Learn to Fly
by Crystal Night
Summary: Continues after the Ouran Fair, Haruhi and the gang know the peaceful days of the host club are limited and are set to enjoy what time they have left. Will Haruhi finally discovery what is within her own heart and fall for one of the hosts? Hx?
1. Change in Plans

**Learn to Fly**  
Chapter 1

Summery: Continues after the events of the Ouran Fair, Haruhi and the gang know that the peaceful days of the host club are limited and are set to enjoy what time they have left while they discover their feelings and love along the way.

**Author's Note**: I've been writing this for fun. So I'm not interested in looking for a beta reader and I do my best to read over these chapters before I post them. I'm writing them during my free time between work and sleep, so I'll do my best to post often and I'll keep these chapters around 5k or more. I love reviews. They make me happy and make me want to write more. So please review!  
Well, here's the first chapter. Please enjoy!

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Since the incident with Éclair and the Ouran fair, things for the Host Club had returned back to normal. Well, as normal as they could get when it came to the Host Club. Tamaki was happily back with his Host Club family, animatedly plotting what the next club theme was going to be. Kyouya was carefully making sure that daddy-dear didn't blow the whole of their budget flying in real African elephants from Africa while the twins made bad jokes about how their king was related to an elephant in one form or another. Mori and Hunny, the senior most members of the group, sat off to the side; Hunny snacking on various cakes while Mori watched everything with a careful eye.

Haruhi was slowly cleaned up the remaining cups sitting around the many tables of the 3rd music room. The club had just ended for the day, all the girls gone home and the club members were cheerfully enjoying each other's company. It felt like everything was back to normal.

Haruhi carefully stacked the empty cups onto the tray she was carrying. Considering that as of just a few weeks ago, the club had been on the brink of being disbanded, it was almost strange how quickly everyone fell back into their normal routines. Mind you, everyone seems to be avoiding discussing what the future of the Host Club was going to be. Now in her second year of Ouran High, Haruhi knew that their host family was not going to be forever. There was the real issue of two of their most senior members impending graduation. Mori and Hunny were now in their final year of Ouran High. What was going to happen then?

Though none of them spoke of it out loud, the events that had passed brought to light the importance of the Host Club to each of its members. Tamaki was right in a silly way, they were a family. They were all friends too, which meant that replacing lost members for the sake of continuing the club was almost out of the question. Almost, because Kyouya could be very persuasive when he wanted to, and the club was making him a good deal of money. So much so, he had considered ways of introducing the host club to the general public. But even so, there was the possibility that this would be the last official year for the host club, but that didn't mean their little family had to end just yet.

The winds were changing however, and it made Haruhi worry. She worried if she would be able to keep up with her well-to-do friends after they had all left Ouran. She worried that they would all drift away. Ouran was the bridge between worlds for Haruhi and the guys. Her being the commoner meant that she didn't have access to their high-class world, even if they could and did invade hers often, she would never be welcome in their inner circles. She picked up s small porcelain teapot from the table, and carefully added it to the tray.

Tamaki glided up next to Haruhi, scarring her and almost causing her to drop the entire tea set. "Haruhi! Why are you still wearing that boy's uniform? You would look so much cuter in the girls one." He held up the desired yellow uniform.

She made sure she had a firm grip on the tray and worked on slowing her racing heart. That had been a close one. If they had dropped, she would have suddenly found herself at the mercy of Kyouya again and under a pile of new debt. She shot Tamaki a quick glare before letting out a small sigh and continuing with her clean-up of the music room. Tamaki seemed to ask this everyday now, and her answer never changed. Even if everyone now knew she was a girl, she didn't want to dress like one. "I told you, sempai, I'm just not comfortable in the girl's uniform and I don't really care what I look like or what others think." She slowly carried the cups into the back room. Better to get them put away before something did cause her to drop them.

Most of the club had been dreading the moment when here secret would get out. Sighting that it would mark the end of her time with the host club. However that did not seem to be the case. It had happened, so innocently and out of the blue that Haruhi hadn't even given it any thought when a fellow classmate walked up to her at the fair and asked her simply if she was really a girl. Haruhi had just looked at her blankly and nodded, much to the dismay of the rest of the host club.

"Tamaki, just because everyone knows that she is a girl now, doesn't mean you can force her to wear the other uniform. And besides," He pushed his glasses back up. "you should know by now that you can't make her do anything she doesn't like."

Tamaki turned from waiting by the back room door for signs of his 'daughters' return. "By Mommy dear! Haruhi would look so much cutter in the other outfit." He begged again.

"Come on boss, give it a rest already." The Hitachiin twins frowned. Kaoru shook his head slightly, crossing his arms. "After all, you should be nicer to Haruhi now."

Hikaru nodded. "Yeah, since she's paid off her debt, she can leave whenever she wants, you know."

Haruhi took this time to enter back into the main music room and was about to wipe down the tables when the prince's out burst made her stop.

"What?!" Tamaki spun on Haruhi, rushing over to take her by the shoulders. "Haruhi! You can't be thinking of leaving? I've been nice! Haven't I? I have right? If you're leaving because of me, I'm sorry! Please don't go!" He was almost in tears.

"Tamaki! Hey! Tamaki-senpai, will you stop!" Haruhi tired to pull out of the prince's grasp with little luck. His hands on her shoulders were starting to hurt. "Tamaki, you're hurting me."

He still wasn't listening however. "I promise Haruhi, I can change! Give me a chance! You don't need to leave, I'm sure we can come to an understanding!"

Kyouya rubbed his temples. He was starting to get a headache. "Tamaki." The one word was enough. The low, firm command was all that was needed to get the way-were prince to stop. He let go of Haruhi and turned to the Shadow King, his mouth open to speak.

Haruhi rubbed her shoulders, sure there would be a bruise there in the morning.

"Haruhi." Mori's deep voice caused her to look up. She hadn't noticed the two seniors move across the room to her. "You alright?" Mori put his large hand, affectionately on the top of her head. She couldn't help but smile a little at the larger man's attempt to comfort her. She would be really sad to see them go.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'll be alright. Thanks Mori-senpai."

"Haru-chan, if you're done cleaning. You are welcome to come sit with us and have some cake." Hunny smiled brightly.

Kyouya walked up to the little group. "That will have to wait, there is some important club business I would like to discuss first." They turned to the clubs Vice-President with questioning eyes. Tamaki and the twins moved closer. Kyouya nodded, seeing all the members were now paying attention. "Good, now this concerns you, Haruhi."

"Me?" The only girl in the group pointed to herself. She wasn't sure if she should be worried or not. She was slightly confused.

Apparently, the other were just as uncertain. "What is it? Haruhi hasn't done anything wrong has she?" Hikaru looked ready to jump to her defense. His brother put a warning hand on his shoulder, an unspoken warning to calm down.

Kyouya just held up his hand. "It's not something she has done wrong… yet, but it's something I would like to bring to light." They reminded silent and waited for him to continue. "Since it is no longer a secret that Haruhi is a girl, and seeing as how the population of Ouran did not seem to have felt betrayed or hurt by this fact, as the first hostess of the host club, I believe it is time to bring in some firm rules."

Haruhi frowned. "Rules? But things are going fine."

Tamaki eyes suddenly lit up. "I want to make a rule! Haruhi must at all times, dress like a girl!"

The twins smirked. "Not going to happen."

He turned to the to doppelgangers. "But why not!"

"Tamaki, that is not the issue here." Kyouya gave him a dark look. Tamaki's shoulders slumped in defeat; he would never get to see his little Haruhi all dressed up. Kyouya cleared his throat. "As I was saying. Now that Haruhi is hosting as a girl, she is not only hosting females clients, but several male students have also expressed their interest in the host club." Tamaki suddenly jumped up to protest, but the Shadow King shot him back with another glare. "Kasanoda himself, has requested you three times next week, Haruhi."

"Really?" She smiled. "I haven't seen him in a while, it will be nice to catch up." The twins sighed. She may not have noticed, but they knew that the young powerful gang leader had a crush on the female host.

"That being said. It has come to my attention that over the last several weeks, Haruhi has been requested by all of our fan club leaders." This statement meant nothing to Haruhi, who was obviously unaware that they even had fan clubs, but the guys exchanged a worried look. Kyouya continued. "The Host Club has survived this long and worked all this time because it is our job to give these ladies a piece of something they can never have but for even one moment make them believe is theirs. However, if they feel that this item already belongs to someone else, then the magic is broken and we are out of a job." He looked at Haruhi to make sure she was following and he judged by her confused expression that she was listening, but did not understand where he was taking this. He snapped his notebook closed. "We can't afford to let the girls get jealous of Haruhi. Before they felt that any attention the other hosts gave to her was nothing more then strong friendship or…" He sighed. "male love, for each other."

Tamaki frowned. "So you believe the girls are starting to get jealous of Haruhi and have been sizing her up?"

Kyouya blinked, surprised at his normally dense friend's sudden insight into the situation. "Yes, that is what is starting to happen."

Haruhi tilted her head as she processed this news. "Well… that's not going to work." She frowned. If the girls become angry with her, it would mean she would have less clients and might even cause her problems outside of the host club too.

"So, what should we do, Kyouya-sempai?" Kaoru asked.

He pushed his glasses back up. "The solution to quite simple really. Either she must appear to be in love with all of us, or none of us."

"What?!" Hikaru and Tamaki jumped. "What do you mean she has be to in love with us?"

Haruhi turned confused brown eyes on the two. Suddenly she got it. "Ohhh! I see." The men turned to her, surprised. "If the girls think that I have strong feelings for one of you, then they will be jealous and angry. However if they think I love you all equally, they will be more interested in deciding who I love more, rather then the fact that I love you at all."

"Precisely." Kyouya smiled proudly. Though the girl was notoriously dense when it came to feelings of love and affection, she was always quick to grasp the situation.

"But-but-but-" Tamaki's face was flushed, this head swarming with a confusion of thoughts. Haruhi would need to love them all? Or make it seem so? But he didn't like the idea of her having to pretend to love and more so, he didn't like that she would also have to show such love to the other members of the club.

"Of course, we can always do the exact opposite."

"Have Haruhi hate us!" Tamaki whaled, chest fallen.

Kyouya shot him another glare, wishing his friend would calm down. "We can continue to insist that we are no more then friends, however this will be harder then making the girls believe then if we are all in love."

The twins were whispering to themselves, while Tamaki sat a little always from the group, trying to work out the situation for himself. Hunny who had been quite throughout the meeting, decided to speak up. "Kyouya has a point." They looked at the small senior. "It would be easier to make the girls believe we are all in love, then if we were only just friends. Though I think for this to work, it's only Haruhi who can act like she is in love." Mori nodded in agreement.

She met Hunny's brown eyes for a moment, then frowned. "Yeah, your right. If you guys show any signs of affection towards me, then that breaks the hosting spell, that correct Kyouya?" She turned to see the Shadow King nod.

"Also, however much our king would wish Haruhi to be his queen for each of the events that the club does, in order to keep the girls in line, he will need to make sure that Haruhi is either paired with one of us as a time or none. Making sure that no pair is repeated till there are no other matches."

"That's not fair!" Tamaki came out of his thoughts. "I wanted Haruhi to be the Jane to my Tarzan!"

The twins glared at their king. "What were we going to be? A bunch of monkey?!"

The other members pretended not to hear. Haruhi was nodding. "No, that makes since." Again she frowned. "This isn't going to be easy… I'm not sure what I should do to make the girls think I am in love with all of you."

Kyouya smiled to himself. Only Haruhi could think and rationalize something like this so easily. He cast a look over the other members of the club. He knew what was in the hearts of some of these other men, he knew what he was asking of Haruhi was not going to be nearly has hard on her as it was going to be on them. After all, how do you brush off a girl's attentions when you have been trying everything to just to gain them? He returned his eyes back to see Haruhi's brown ones looking to him for an answer. "I'm not sure myself, but do whatever you are comfortable with first and do it slow. It's going to be rough in the beginning until the girls understand what is going on. Even dropping hints with your clients will help speed along the process."

Haruhi smiled. "Alright, I'll do my best. If that's everything though, I'd like to be heading home." Kyouya nodded. She said her goodbyes to the other club members and gathering her things, left the music room.

"Hey Haruhi! Wait for us!" Hikaru and Kaoru ran after her down the hall. Smiling when they finally caught up. Kaoru looped his arm about her waist and Hikaru frowned, wishing to do the same. He glanced down at his right arm, still in a cast from when he broke it during the carriage incident during the Ouran fair.

Noticing his silence, Haruhi looked over. "Hikaru, how much longer will your arm be in a cast for anyways?" She asked.

He moved the cast arm a little. "I'm not sure, I have an appointment with the doctors to find out later this week."

His twin brother nodded. "With any luck, they might even take it off then."

"Oh," She looked between to two with a smile. "That's good then. After all, I bet it hasn't been very fun having all your clients know which one is which, huh?"

The twins paused on that. "I don't think it's been that really." Kaoru started.

"But it's more that we can only do so many brotherly-love comments about it." Hikaru finished.

They looked at each other and smiled. "It gets in the way of our acts."

"Figures." Haruhi sweat-dropped and let out a sigh. "Oh well, I hope you get the cast off soon, either way, Hikaru."

"Haruhi." She looked over at the softer spoken of the twins. "Are you alright with this?" He asked, the jokes gone from his voice.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about what Kyouya said in there. I know he's right and that we need to do something to keep you in the host club but I was wondering… If you are alright pretending to be in love with all of us?" Kaoru spared a glance at his twin, seeing that his brother had taken a sudden interest in the far wall. Though Hikaru hadn't said much about this plan, his brother knew that he was confused. Hikaru knew he was in love with Haruhi, had for some time now and he was sure this plan of theirs was going to cause problems. He hoped that his brother would be strong and see that it was only an act that they would all need to put on, but… even Kaoru was worried. What happened if this plan lead to, bigger things…

Haruhi was in thought. "No, I'm not bothered with it. It makes sense. I just don't know how I'm suppose to act."

The twins turned to each other and smiled, setting their thoughts aside for the promise of fun. She didn't know how to act, but- "We can help you there."

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The remaining members of the host club watched the three of them leaving the school grounds from the window of their clubroom.

"Kyouya," Tamaki addressed his dark friend. "Are you sure this is necessary?"

He nodded. "I would not have suggested it if it wasn't."

Hunny frowned. "This might cause more problems though, for us." Mori was already moving towards the door, waiting for his shorter cousin to catch up.

Kyouya couldn't deny that. There was the possibility that someone might truly act of his feelings for Haruhi. They had been lucky to escape one year with so few problems. He hoped that their friendships would be strong enough to outweigh the feelings of their jealousy and love, but not everything can last forever.

Hunny soon joined with his cousin and left. Leaving the two best friends alone.

"Kyouya…"

"I know Tamaki, but this was the only plan I could come up with. Just remember, no matter what she does in the club, you can't act on it, because it's only an act and you will only get yourself hurt."

He blond haired prince sighed. "You're not making this easy on me."

Kyouya smiled at his friend. "Where would the fun be in that?"

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The following day after classes, Haruhi was strangely nervous about the clubs activities for the day. She was going to have to start pretending to have feelings for the other hosts and would have to make sure it was obvious enough for their clients to take notice but not so much what it looked like she was throwing herself at the men or being forceful in her attentions towards them. This was going to be harder then she first thought.

First thing first, she should work on flirting with one or two of the hosts each day. If she flirted with them all it would make her look like a whore and they didn't want that either. So she had to pick new ones each day, all the while dropping hints to her clients that she wasn't sure who she liked and always asking their opinions on the other hosts, in hopes of trying to understand her own feelings. That was the plan anyways.

It was up to the other hosts to act as natural as possible.

Kyouya announced the arrival of their guests. It was now or never, Haruhi picked her target and waited for her clients to come. Kanna and May were two quite first year students. They were both new to the host club but at taken a liking to Haruhi, as they were still too shy to request any of the male hosts.

"Oh Haruhi," Kanna played with the folds of her skirt. "How are you feeling today?"

Haruhi smiled brightly at the girls, carefully pouring rose tea into their cups. "I am quite good," She paused, she might as well get this over with. "..however." She frowned a little, dropping her eyes away from her clients.

It had the desired affect. The girls both moved closer to the edges of their seats, lowing their voices so that the other around wouldn't be able to hear. "Haruhi, what is it? What's wrong?"

She wasn't very good at this kind of thing.. She felt the heat rising in her cheeks, embarrassed that she was even going to pretend to say this next part. "… how do you know… if your in love?"

The girls, taking into account the blush on her cheeks and the unusually shyness, happy smiled at the hostess. "Oh Haruhi!" May happy clapped her hands together. "You should just know."

They were falling for it. Just as the twins had told her. The brother's rude comments about how easy the girls were to manipulate came to mind and it was time to continue on with this plot of theirs. She wasn't allowed to say who she was in love with, just hint. While her two clients talked about love, she cast her eyes over the other hosts before settling on Mori sitting with Hunny and their clients. Mori nodded, seeing her eyes on him.

The girls, noticing Haruhi's far off stare turned to see who she was looking at. Was it the person she was in love with? Was is one of the other hosts? Haruhi turned her eyes back to the girls before they had a chance to figure it out, asking if they wouldn't say anything about any of this and changed the topic.

The girls left some time after that, wishing her luck is discovering her feelings and making her promise to tell them who she liked when she figured it out herself. Once the girls had left, she let out a sigh.

"Not bad, it's a start." Kyouya seemed to have come out of no where.

Haruhi glanced up at him from her seat on the couch. "You were watching the whole time, weren't you?"

He just smirked. "Maybe, but the blush was a nice touch. I didn't know you had it in you."

She glared at him for a moment, but heard her next client coming in. "Drop your pencil."

Kyouya blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Walk by and drop your pencil, pretend you don't notice." Haruhi turned her back on him and greeted her next client. A third year student named Sarah with nice long black hair and a simple pretty face. She had been one of Haruhi's clients last year and had happily decided to continue to request her even when it got out that she was really a girl.

Haruhi smiled at the girl as she sat down. She quickly poured her a cup of tea and left it to Sarah to fill in the conversation while Haruhi tried hard not to watch Kyouya move about to room. Wondering if he was going to help her out or not.

She was about to fill Sarah's cup when she felt something tap against her foot. She looked down to find Kyouya's pencil. He was still slowly making his way over to check on the twins. Taking her queue, Haruhi excused herself and moved to catch up with him.

The twins have given her a basic rule to follow, Touch.

She reached out, lightly grabbing Kyouya's arm to gain his attention. Her movement from her designated couch had already caught a few eyes but to touch the Shadow King, it almost felt like everyone had stop speaking.

Kyouya looked down at the hand on his arm, but turned slowly to the hostess. "Haruhi?"

She let go of his arm and smiled. "You dropped your pencil." She quickly held up the small item.

Kyouya made a show of checking his pocket for the pencil before lightly taking it from her hands. "Thank you, Haruhi."

She turned to head back to her chair, trying not to listen to the murmurs about the room. Even the other hosts had watched the exchange with interest. Now she needed to use one of the other rules the twins had given her. Always look back. Quickly she cast a look back over her shoulder to see Kyouya had continued his walk towards the others, his pencil now back in its rightful place. She returned back to her client, hoping that the stunt had worked.

Tamaki had watched the exchange with interest. He was curious to see how Haruhi was going to handle this new task. The whole pencil trick had seemed harmless at first, but when walking back to her chair, she had cast a look over her shoulder, with such a small sweet smile that it had caused him to clench his fist. Nothing she does is real. Nothing she does means anything. It's an act. It's an act.

"Tamaki-sempai?"

He snapped back from his thoughts and cast a bright smile on the girl next to him. "Yes, my princess?"

She frowned slightly. "I asked if it was true that Haruhi-chan is in love with Kyouya-sempai?"

The prince shook his head. They had been warned to expect such questions. "No my dear, I do not believe it is. Though she has been a little strange of late…" He pretended to think about it, before smiling and changing the topic.

Haruhi was glad when the last of their clients for the day was shown to the door and the club closed for the evening. She sighed and let her head fall back against the back of the couch. She felt two people sit down next to her and didn't need to look to know it was the brothers.

"You did a good job, Haruhi." She could hear the smile in Kaoru voice.

"Yeah, just keep that up and you'll have the girls convinced in no time."

She looked over at Hikaru. "You think?" He nodded and she let out another sigh. "It's not as easy as I thought it would be… its weird to be…" She was looking for the right way to phase it. "to be so fake."

The twins laughed at that. Hikaru turning to look over at Kyouya who was busy typing on his laptop. "Hey Kyouya! Nice job with the pencil act."

The Shadow King hide behind his glasses, not even looking up at the twin's remark. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

Kaoru waved his hand. "Yeah, yeah."

Hunny came bouncing up and stopped in front of Haruhi. "You did a good job, Haruhi. They now think you are in love with Kyouya. Now we need to make them think you like someone else too." He smiled so brightly, holding his bunny Usa-chan. "Since there is no club tomorrow, I think you should come down to the kendo hall, Haru-chan."

"The... kendo hall?" Now that she thought of it, she had never been to that part of the school. Though she had a vague idea where it was. Before she could ask the next question that came to mind, someone else asked it for her.

"Why should she go there?" Hikaru cast a suspicious eye on the small senior.

The small blond teen just hugged his bunny. "Cause, it's not something she would normally do and it will catch people off guard." They all agreed with the small senior there. Haruhi never went down to the kendo hall so it was bound of gain some attention from the other students. Hunny smiled. "Oh, and Haru-chan, you should bring something as a snack, cause we are always hungry after practice. Right, Takashi?"

"Ah." The much larger senior nodded with a small smile.

"Oh, alright." Haruhi agreed reluctantly. It would gain the attention of some of the students and they wanted to make them talk as much as possible. So she figured it wouldn't hurt to go along with it. Besides, she was interested to see the kendo hall and wondered if she would get to see Mori or Hunny training.

The twins shrugged and started to help Haruhi with the cleanup. It was then that Kaoru noticed that someone from their group was missing. "Hey, where is Tamaki?" The others looked around at this, not knowing where their blond leader had gone to.

It was Mori who was able to answer that. "Down there." He pointed out the window that viewed down into the small courtyard below. They all moved over to the window to see Tamaki standing down by the edge of the water fountain talking with a girl with long brown hair.

Kyouya pushed his glasses up. "Hmm… another confession."

The twins nodded. "How many is he up to now?" They turned to the dark haired vice-president.

He opened up his notebook and flipped through a few pages. "This one would be the eight this year."

Haruhi looked over in surprise. "Eight confessions this year? Really?" She looked back down to see the girl in obvious tears. Even from here she could see the girl's shoulders shaking. Tamaki knelt down before her, holding up a rose. The girl after a moments paused, took the offered flower wiping the tears from her eyes.

Hikaru threw his good arm over Haruhi's shoulders. "They cry, he give them a flower and they walk off smiling. Every time."

Haruhi saw the girl start to leave, before turning back to wave at the prince, smiling. She turned to Hikaru. "Do you guys get confessions too then?"

Hikaru blushed and turned away. His brother smiled, putting an arm around her waist. "All the time. Though never as many as Tamaki."

"Oh." She didn't know what to say. She didn't know they got confessions so often. She knew that they were well liked and admired in the school but love letters and confessions just never occurred to her. After all, in all her time in the host club, she had never received any. Even when they did think she was a boy.

They all went back to their after club duties. Soon Tamaki reentered the clubroom and dropped down into one of the oversized high-backed chairs, letting out a large sigh. "They never get easier."

Kyouya used to the routine, closed what he was doing and walked over to his friend. "An after club meeting this time, huh? Don't you normally handle these things in the mornings?"

The blond prince nodded. "Yes, but this one was so insistent that I meet her at that time. There was little I could do and besides, how I hate having to hurt all these beautiful princesses!" He clutched his heart before leaning back over the armrest of the chair, letting his arms hang over his head. He watched the others clean up the room from this new upside down vantage point while he let his thoughts wonder.

Kyouya just shook his head and walked back over to the other. Haruhi caught his attention then, her arms laden with tableware. "Kyouya-sempai, I forgot to ask, why is the host club going to be closed tomorrow?"

He looked up from his planned. "Oh, I have several appointments to keep and Hikaru has a visit with the doctors. So with I figured it would be best to close the club for the day."

"Oh, I see." She smiled because she didn't have anything else to say and finished with her choirs. She wondered what kind of snack she should bring for Hunny-sempai and Mori-sempai tomorrow and if she needed to go out to the store to get anything.

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Once classes were done for the day, she said goodbye to the twins as they headed off to the doctors to see about Hikaru's arm. She wished him the best and headed off towards the keno hall. She had been unsure what to make for the two seniors as a snack. So she settled with making two small bentos. For Hunny's, she made sure to include lots of sweet things like fruits, a little bit of cake and some commoner's candy. But she had been at a loss as to what she should put in Mori's. He very rarely ate any sweets during club hours and she wasn't sure what he would like to eat in general. So she had made up some rice balls, added a few cut veggies and some cold meats. Hoping that he would enjoy it.

She turned down the final hallway that would take her to the kendo hall. She looked around. The hall looked like all the other in the school, the peach coloured walls with white trim greeted her like all the rest in the school. Other then the artwork, it all looked the same. Small groups of students moved about the halls, coming in and out of the various classrooms. Some have her curious looks, wondering why the hostess was in that particular section of the school.

A second year student, whose name Haruhi could not recall at the time, detached herself from a small group of girls and bounced up to greet her. "Haruhi-chan! What are you doing out this way?" She asked sweetly.

Caught off guard, flashed the girl a large smile. "Oh, I've just come out this way to meet with Hunny-sempai and Mori-sempai."

The girl looked over her shoulder and down the long hall. "Oh you're going over to the kendo hall." The girl frowned then. "Though I think you are a little early, they normally don't get out of a while yet."

"Oh, that's ok. I don't mind waiting till they are done. I hope to see you in the club sometime. Bye!" Haruhi moved past the girl and continued on her way down the hall. She could hear the kendo students from the hallway as they went through their paces. Once to the door she was happy to see it was already open slightly and that the students all had their backs to her, so she didn't feel like she was interrupting them. Mori was standing in front of the students, giving instruction when needed and making sure their form was correct. He didn't look up from his students as she slipped into the room.

She felt someone take her hand a moment later and she looked down to find Hunny. He smiled and pulled her to a small bench at the back of the room. "Thanks for coming, Haru-chan." He spoke softly, not wanting to interrupt the lesson.

She smiled at the small blond teen. "No problem, Hunny-sempai." She watched Mori instructed the students for a while longer before turning back to Hunny. "Sempai, why are you sitting back here?"

The little blond turned his sweet brown eyes to her. "Me and Takashi take turns sometimes instruction the kendo class. I just like to watch and sometimes we do demonstrations for the students. Since I don't normally practice kendo, I leave most of the work to Takashi." He gave her a large bright smile. "After all, the Haninozuka style of martial arts is a lot harder to learn then kendo." He turned his eyes back to his larger cousin. "But Takashi is very good at kendo, so I know he enjoys this."

She nodded and continued to sit in silence. She knew that Mori was currently the kendo grand champion, so it was no surprise to hear of his love for the sport. She was just happy that Hunny took a interest in Mori's happiness. Hunny was a good guy. She enjoyed seeing him acting more his age from time to time. It helped to remind her that the small blond was not a child like he pretended to be.

"Mitsukuni." Mori's deep voice echoed across the hall.

Hunny silently got up, leaving Haruhi alone on the bench and walked up to his taller cousin. They stood oppose to each other in front of the students, who had taken several steps back and were excitedly waiting for the two to spare. Haruhi could easily over hear some of the conversations close to the back of the class.

"This is exciting!"

"Yeah, I can't believe you missed the last match."

"Man I would give anything to be as good as them."

"I wonder if Haninozuka-sempai would dual me?"

"Yeah, like you would ever be able to beat him."

They hushed as the two cousins bowed to each other. Haruhi turned to attention back to her friends.

If you didn't know better, you might have thought that this fight was very one sided. Mori towered over his older and smaller blond haired cousin but the stacks were really in Hunny's favor. The Haninozukas have always been the best in what they did, and Hunny was their heir for a reason.

They dropped into their fighting stances, both waiting for the other to make their move. Mori held his wooden sword steady and even, waiting. Hunny smirked and lunched himself at his cousin. Hunny sent a fury of kicks and punches at the taller man, Mori calmly blocked each, knocking the small boy back with a precise swing of his sword. Hunny flew up then down, landing in a crouched position, swinging his leg out to throw Mori off balance. It worked, as Mori moved back, his stance was broken and his defenses open.

Hunny rushed in, grabbing his cousin's arm and threw him over his shoulder. Mori landed with a large and heavy thud. The fight was oven almost as quickly as it had started and the class broke out into applause.

Slightly concerned, Haruhi found herself moving to check on Mori, who was just picking himself off the floor. "Mori-sempai, are you alright?"

He was surprised to find Haruhi's brown eyes so filled with concern. "I'm… alrighty." He smiled softly and picked himself off the wooden floor, dusting himself off.

She caught Hunny's eye then, the small blond teen was smiling brightly. It was then she realized that everyone was looking at her. She blushed and excused herself, retreating back to the safety of the bench at the back of the room.

Hunny and Mori bowed then faced the class. "Why did I lose?" Mori placed a hand on his hip, his wooden kendo sword pointed at the floor. He nodded to one of the students close to the front.

The student stood up and bowed. "You lost your footing, Sempai. And Haninozuka-sempai took advantage of the opening." He bowed again before retuning to his seat.

Mori nodded. "Good. Remember that next time. You are dismissed."

As the class was filing out, Mori and Hunny moved to join Haruhi at the back of the class. Haruhi smiled up at them, holding the two small bento boxes. "Hungry?"

Mori smiled. "Ah."

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After the two had changed back into their school uniforms, they had headed out into one of the small garden to enjoy Haruhi's homemade bentos. Few students were in this part of the school at this time of the day, and she was thankful for that.

"Wow, Haru-chan! You made all this?" Hunny excitedly looked through the small lunch box she had handed him.

She nodded. "I hope you like it."

Mori open his bento, carefully looking at its contents before taking a bite from one of the rice balls. "Good." He concluded.

She smiled again, happy the two of them were enjoying the food she made. She really loved to cook and the chance to share it with others always felt great. More so when she wasn't being forced to cook for the entire club. That was just tiring. "Hunny-sempai, I was wondering." The small blond looked up from his bento dish. "What are you two planning to do after graduation?"

A serious look filled the small man's eyes. "Well, once we are done at Ouran, we are going to be working with our fathers to learn the family business. I assume it will be similar to what Kyo-chan and Tama-chan are going to do."

"So you're not going to continue to study?" She had no idea they weren't going to continue with school, and Kyouya and Tamaki also might not go to university?

Hunny nodded. "We will still study and take courses but it will be only on a part-time bases, when we can." Mori nodded, signaling that Hunny was correct.

"Oh." She looked down at the blade of grass she had been playing with between her fingers and let her thoughts wonder. It had been a strange request to meet up with the two cousins after class but she had to admit, she enjoyed spending time with Hunny and Mori. It was something that she really didn't get to do much. She sighed thinking about how this was only because of the clubs plan to make everything think she was in love when them.

Hunny put down the half eaten cupcake. "Haru-chan, what's wrong?"

She shook her head. "I'm not so sure if this plan is going to work."

Hunny and Mori shared a look. "I think it should be ok. Once the girls think you are in love with all of us, you won't need to try so hard."

She frowned a little. "I think that it's more that I'm deceiving them… again." She felt Mori put his warm hand on her head. She looked up at her tall friend. He smiled softly down at her. She knew what he was trying to tell her without needing to speak. He was telling her that it was okay, she wasn't doing anything wrong and that they were here for her. She smiled sadly then. "Thanks, Mori-sempai." She was really going to miss these two.

They ate the rest of Haruhi's bento, enjoying each other's company while talking about the club and other host members. Once they were done, Haruhi happily accepted the offer of a ride home.

When she opened the door to her apartment, her dad happily called to her from the living room. "Haruhi! Where have you been~?"

She took off her shoes at the front door and stepped into the apartment. "I had some club stuff to do." She called back, moving into the kitchen to start dinner. She didn't need to tell him that she had been spending time with Hunny and Mori, without the rest of the club there. Her dad would have wanted to know every last detail, and she was tired and didn't feel like explaining. "I thought you had to work late tonight?"

Ranka leaned into the kitchen. "I did but I just wanted to see my lovely daughter." The cross-dressing red head swept his daughter into a large hug. "It's been so long since I got to enjoy your cooking! I just had to come home."

"Dad! Can't breath-" She pushed to get out of her father's grasp. After one last, final squeeze, he released her with a large grin. She sighed but smiled. Her dad and Tamaki were so similar at times. "You just had my cooking the other night, dad."

He shook his head. "Yes, but it's a father's right to enjoy his daughters cooking every chance he can get."

She couldn't help but smile. "Go sit down, dad. I'll let you know when dinner is ready."

Ranka leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. "Ok dear. Oh, so how are things going at school?"

"Great dad." Just great.

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Please review and let me know what to think. I'll be posting the next chapter very soon and I'd really love to know what you think.


	2. Misunderstandings

**Learn to Fly**  
Chapter 2

* * *

The following morning, Haruhi woke up feeling surprisingly good. She dressed for school, said goodbye to her dad and started her walk towards the train station. She looked up at the sky. Only a few clouds marred its perfection on this day. She happily smiled and found herself humming a small tune. She didn't know why, she just felt… happy.

"Haruhi!"

She was just coming up to the school when the familiar call from Hikaru reached her. She turned to see him and his brother running up to greet her.

"Haruhi, look!" Hikaru waved his right arm, showing that it was better and out of it's cast.

She laughed and smiled as the twins slowed to a halt. "That's wonderful, Hikaru."

Hikaru blushed and glanced at his brother. Kaoru just smiled. "You seem to be in a good mood today, Haruhi. Did anything good happen yesterday?"

She shook her head. "Nope."

The brothers moved to walk on either side of her, exchanging another look behind her back as they walked towards the school.

She smiled, feeling the small bounce in her step as they move towards the school.

Hikaru frowned. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yep."

They shrugged. Who were they to question her good mood.

They didn't say anything else till they were seated in their class. Haruhi took her books out of her bag and started to look over her notes from the previous day. She didn't even notice she was again, humming.

Kaoru exchanged another look with his brother who was getting increasingly anxious when he over heard the group of girls setting next to him talking.

"Doesn't Haruhi look happy today?"

"Yeah, I wonder if something happened."

"Didn't you hear?" The girls shifted closer together. "I heard that she made a move on Kyouya-sempai the other day. Maybe something happened there, huh?

"No, I heard she went down to the kendo hall the other day."

"What! Really?" - "No way!"

"Yeah I know. She never goes down that way but I heard that her and Mori-sempai got a little close. She even brought him a bento!"

"Wow." – "You're kidding!"

"No I'm not, on my honor."

"Ohh… maybe that's why she's so happy. Maybe Mori-sempai returned her feelings?"

Kaoru turned his attention away from the girls to see if his brother had also over heard them. The pained look in brother's eye said he had and he wasn't sure how to react to the news. He turned to the browned hair girl. "Haruhi, how did everything go yesterday?" He had forgotten that she had made plans to spend time with the two seniors.

"Hmm?" She looked up from her books.

It was worth a shot, it might explain her mood if something had happened. "How did things go with Mori-sempai?"

"Oh, it went well." He could see his brother turn away from them, his fists shaking on his desk. Haruhi continued on. "I watched Hunny-sempai and Mori-sempai teach the kendo class, which was neat and after we sat around in the gardens talking. It was nice." She frowned. "I'm going to miss them when they are gone."

"So did anything else happen?" Kaoru pressed again.

She turned to look at the softer-spoken twin. "I had dinner with dad?"

Kaoru was happy that the teacher took that moment to enter the classroom. If something had happened, it was clear she wasn't going to tell them but he had a feeling there was nothing to worry about. He just needed to convince his brother the same.

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Haruhi was just about to dig into her lunch when the doors to the third music room open, and a familiar head of orange hair poked into the room. "Haruhi?"

"Hikaru, what are you doing here?" She looked up, surprised to see the twin.

He slowly entered the room, looking a little unsure. "I just… wanted to talk to you for a bit."

"Oh, okay." She gave him a small smile. "Take a seat. Where's your lunch? And Kaoru" She asked after a pause.

He slowly slipped into the seat across from her. "Oh, he had some things to do and umm I wasn't hungry."

She frowned. "Are you sure? You could have some of mine, if you like."

He eyed her lunch. Though he was hungry, he had hoped to be able to talk with Haruhi alone. He had some things he wanted to get off his chest and the talk he had been hearing around the school all morning had bothered him more then he wanted to admit. Add that, with her unusual good mood and he was down right suspicious that something had happened and she wasn't telling him. It made him feel bad, cause he didn't like doubting her.

"Is your arm still bothering you, Hikaru?"

He looked down to notice that he was rubbing his right arm where the break had been. He stilled his hand. "Umm, no. Not really." He went to move his arm out of the way but Haruhi's small hand stopped him from putting it under the table.

"Can I see?"

His face flushed and he looked away from her bright eyes. "Uh, sure." He felt her soft hands push up the cuff of his sleeve.

She ran her hand across his warn skin. She remembered one of then twins brotherly-love acts had mentioned something about having pens put into his arms to hold the bone, but she had thought that they only did that for people who have broken their legs. She didn't even know how bad he had broken his arm, after all it was not like there had been blood or anything. She felt something smooth under her fingertips. "You have a small scar."

"I do?" Hikaru looked down where she was touching. There was a very small shinny white scar about an inch long. "I don't remember getting that." He frowned, leaning closer to get a better look.

"Hey Haruhi, I was wondering-" Tamaki paused in the doorway.

Haruhi and Hikaru turned to look at the blond prince standing in the doorway. It was Hikaru who moved first and pulling his arm out of Haruhi's grasp and sitting back.

Haruhi just smiled. "What is it Tamaki-sempai?"

Tamaki just stood in the door. He had forgotten why he had even come into the room. All he knew what that he had just interrupted Haruhi and Hikaru doing… something. Something not good he was sure. Why had she been touching his arm, his bare arm in such a way anyways? And leaning so close together?

"Tamaki-sempai?" Haruhi called again. "Are you alright?"

"Was I interrupting?"

Haruhi visibly flinched at his tone. "Um, no." She glanced at Hikaru who seemed to be looking anywhere but at the other two people in the room. She felt her good mood floating out the window. "Tamaki-sempai, do you need me for something?"

He slowly walked towards the pair sitting together at one of the tables near the window. Tamaki eyed the open bento lunch in the middle of the table, his brow furrowed. They had been having lunch together, one of Haruhi's homemade bento lunches and they had been touching. He stopped to stand over their table.

Haruhi looked up at the blond prince in slight confusing and annoyance. "Sempai?"

He forced on his biggest and brightest smile. "No Haruhi, everything is fine. I had just been wondering if you wanted to have some lunch with me, but I can see you are already eating. So I'll leave you alone and I will see you a later at the club." With that he left the room. He needed to find Kyouya.

Hikaru looked over at Haruhi. He was happy that Tamaki was gone but he felt like he needed to say something to Haruhi, she seemed… down now. Maybe he shouldn't have come to find her. "Haruhi, I-"

"We should finish lunch, class is going to start soon." She turned her attention to the bento box sitting between them.

"Um, yeah." He didn't feel like eating anymore, even if it was Haruhi hand-made lunch.

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Haruhi was silent for the rest of the afternoon. Her good mood gone. She wasn't looking forward to club activities that day, she felt more incline to just run off and hide herself in a good book for the evening. But that was not to be. She followed a few steps behind the carrot top twins as they made their way to the music room.

Everyone else was already there and preparing for their guests when they entered. Tamaki seemed oddly quite while they got ready. Not a single exclamation about his lovely daughter. No pressing her into wearing a girl uniform. She was about to ask him if something was bothering him but their guests started to enter before she got a chance.

Kyouya moved passed her couch as her first two guests were just settling in. "You seem to be very popular today, Haruhi." Was all he said as he glided over to check on the other hosts.

She smiled to the two students who seated themselves across from her, pouring them some tea. "I don't think I've had the honor of hosting for you two ladies before."

They shook their heads and smiled. "Well, we just wanted to meet you."

The other one nodded. "Yeah, we normally don't come to the host club often but yeah, we just wanted to get to know you a little better."

Haruhi set the teapot carefully back down onto the table. "Is that so, what would you like to know?" She smiled, letting herself get into her normal hosting mode.

The two girls leaned closer. "What was it like?"

Haruhi blinked. "Excuse me?"

The girl's friend nodded. "Yeah, you know~"

Haruhi shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't."

The two girls smirked to each other. The first girl spoke up again. "Well if your not going to give out any details, at least tell us which one it was."

"Yeah!" The other girl smiled. "Unless…" A small frown formed on her lips. "You're not sure… Which in that case we totally understand."

"Yeah yeah, cause we've liked them for years and have never been able to tell them apart either."

"So at lunch, you were with…"

Haruhi was lost, she had no idea what these two were going on about. "Um, at lunch? I had lunch with Hikaru today."

The girls broke into a mess of giggles. "Ohhhh, lunch with Hikaru~." The one girl winked while her friend was grinning from ear to ear.

Kyouya appeared from seemingly out of nowhere. "Sorry to interrupt ladies, but your time is up."

As the two girls left, Haruhi looked up at Kyouya when he didn't immediately leave, still slightly baffled by her clients. "Kyouya-sempai…?" She noticed a small frown tugging on the vice-presidents lips.

Before she would ask what was wrong he started talking. "This rumor would be Tamaki's fault. But it seems you were not aware of it and, innocent though you may have been, have just made things worse." His tone was hard as he looked down at her sitting on the couch.

She opened her mouth to speak but he continued obviously angry but Haruhi was still confused as to why.

"No, I am not blaming you for this mess. I will make sure that Tamaki take cares of it, however I am just letting you know that I am not happy about it and I think you might want to go home for the day and wait till we get this straightened out."

She stared at him. "Kyouya-sempai, what are you talking about?" She asked, just wanting a straight answer.

Kyouya pushed his glasses back into place. "The rumor that you were caught having sex with one of the twins in the music room."

For a moment she wasn't sure if she had heard him right but his level stare told her he was not joking "…huh?" She blinked, her eyes slowly moving from the shadow king looming over her chair to the twins setting with their clients on their couch near the window. Hikaru's face was so red she wondered if he might pass out. A moment later he rushed off to hide in the back room, his brother spoke quickly with their guests before going after him.

She heard Kyouya sigh. "Maybe we should close the club again today. I think we need to have another talk."

Haruhi just nodded and turned away from the glares she was getting from the twins abandoned guests. Her eyes fell on Tamaki, who was trying to hide behind the arm rest of his chair. If looks could kill he would have gone up in smoke from the glare Haruhi gave him. What in the world had he done to spread this rumor about?

They cleared the guests out of the music room and moved the couches till they could all sit facing each other. Haruhi sat in her normal place between the two twins, while Hunny and Mori sat beside Tamaki across from them. Kyouya however, decided it was best that he stand. "Tamaki-"

The blond prince bowed his head in shame, a sigh escaped him. "Yeah I know."

Kaoru leaned back in his seat next to Haruhi. "How in the world did they manage to come up with such a rumor from Hikaru and Haruhi having lunch together?" Hikaru blushed at the mention of the rumor, but kept his eyes on the floor. All he had wanted to do was ask her why she had been in such a good mood this morning, and then this had to happen.

Haruhi shrugged. She might have felt embarrassed from such a rumor going around, if it wasn't so complete absurd. She glared at Tamaki again. "Yeah, how did they ever get such an idea?"

He poked his fingers together, keeping his head down. "Well I… umm…"

Kyouya closed his notebook and sighed. "After our dear Tamaki saw you and Hikaru touching each other over one of your home-made bento lunches, he felt the desire to come rushing into the study hall to tell me all about it. I believe that the near by students misunderstood his tirade and the rumor was born."

Hunny's eyes were big. "Haru-chan and Hika-chan were touching?"

Sometime, she hated this school. Everyone was so caught up in everyone else's lives. "He got his cast off, I was curious."

Tamaki looked up at her. "That's it?"

She nodded. "Yeah, he came into the lunchroom to talk, he didn't have his lunch with him so I offered him some of mine and then I asked if I could see his arm cause I was curious." She quickly explained with a shrug. Not mentioning that she had been interested to see if he had had bolts put into his arms or anything. It seemed kind of silly to mention, so she didn't and was happy they didn't push the issue farther. "And that's when you walked in."

"See, Tamaki," Kyouya turned to his blond friend. "I told you, you were over reacting and now look what you've started."

"It might not be that bad…" He said wishfully. "Come Monday, no one might even remember."

The shadow king glared down at the prince. "I highly doubt that."

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The weekend was peacefully quite. No host members dropped in to visit and she found that she was able to catch up on all the chores, which she had been unable to do up to that point. Her father worked most of the weekend however, but she didn't mind. She made sure to go to the store and pick up a few nice things for dinner, also making sure to pick up a few things so she would be able to make her dad something to take to work with him the next day. She knew he would love that, after all, he worked so hard for them it was the least she could do.

The events of the previous week had been forgotten but came rushing back to her the moment she entered the classroom and sat down in her desk, aware of the many looks she was receiving from the students. There was a small folded note on her desk. Curiously she opened the letter.

_"Haruhi the Host Club Whore" _

She looked at the letter for a moment and then sighed heavily. "Figures." She was about the crumpled up the note when it was snatched from her hands.

"What you got there, Haruhi?" Hikaru and his brother smiled as they turned to read the note.

"Hikaru don't-"

"Who wrote this?!" Hikaru shouted and turned on the class who were now staring at him. The hot headed twin ripped up the note, throwing it down onto the ground.

Haruhi was out of her seat, trying to calm him down. "Hikaru, don't worry about it. It's alright. The note wasn't even that bad."

He turned to her. "That's not the point, Haruhi! They have no reason to call you names just because of a stupid rumor that not even true and never happened."

She sighed. "I know Hikaru but getting mad about it, isn't going to help either."

"Come on Hikaru, let's sit down before the teacher gets in." Kaoru steered his brother over to his desk and made him sit down, before taking his own desk on the other side of Haruhi.

She sat down as the teacher walked into the room and dug out her books and was about to take start checking over her notes when a folded piece of paper landed on her notebook. She opened the note.

_"Sorry, Haruhi, for the note =( but if I had told you, he wouldn't have reacted the way he did. I don't think we will have any more problems with that rumor =)  
Kaoru"_

She glanced to her right, Kaoru gave her an apologetic smile. She quickly wrote him back and threw her reply onto his desk.

He waited for the teacher to turn his back and then opened the note.

_"That was the best you could come up with? Not very creative."_ He couldn't help but laugh.

"Kaoru, since you seem to find this topic so funny, how about giving us the answers to this problem." The teacher stood there with his arms crossed, waiting for the twin answer.

Kaoru opened his mouth to speck after a brief pause. He hasn't even heard the question and was about to say so when his brother spoke up.

"I wasn't laughing." The teacher turned his eyes to the other twin. "If you're going to call on one of us, at least try and get the name right."

The teacher stiffened. "I am sorry then, Kaoru." The teacher turned back to the board and continued with the lesson.

Kaoru glanced over at his twin who smirked before holding up the small note he had just written to Haruhi. He smiled nervously, his brother was going to get him back for that, he was sure but with luck, it should help to clear that rumor that was going around. He could already here the girls next to him talking in hushed voices.

"Yeah, I didn't think Haruhi-chan would do something like that. She's not that kind of girl."

"Yeah, I can't believe someone would spread such a thing around the school! Poor Haruhi-chan… she's just having a hard time… being surrounded by all those gorgeous men."

"Yeah, it would be hard to pick just one, huh?"

Well at least these girls had bought it. It was a start. He looked over at Haruhi and his brother. He didn't want there to be any unwanted pressure on those two. He just wanted his brother to grow a little more… maybe then he would be in better control of his emotions.

He wondered why they always had to clean up the mess after one of Tamaki's little stunts. He sighed. At least this one hadn't been too hard to straighten out.

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The rest of the day passed without indent.

"Oh, Haruhi~!" Tamaki sang as she entered the clubroom later that day after school. The blond prince swiped in front of her, a large bouquet of red roses in his hand. "Oh Haruhi, please forgive me for my misunderstanding the other day. I did not mean to cause you any trouble." He bowed dramatically and held out the flowers.

She stared at the beautiful roses and wondered briefly how much they had cost. "That's not necessary, Tamaki-sempai… You didn't need to buy me flowers." She slowly took them, now not sure what to do with them. She normally never got flowers.

Kyouya paused from typing on his laptop for a moment. "If you need something to put those in, Haruhi, I believe we have a spare vase in the back."

She nodded. "Uh, thanks." She carefully put the flowers on one of the nearby tables and headed into the back to find a vase.

She looked around the many boxes stuffed into the back of the storage room. "Now where would it be…?" She opened up a few of the closer boxes, both were filled with dishes. She set those ones aside and opened up the larger box underneath. "Table cloths? Why do we have so many of everything? It's such a waste." She sighed looked up at the tall stack of boxes. There sitting in the very top right corner shelf of the large built-in shelves, sat a large blue and white china vase. "Of course it's all the way up there." There was no way she was going to be able to get that on her own without a ladder. She decided to look around for one, there had to be a ladder in here somewhere. They had everything else in here.

"Haruhi." Kyouya stepped in. "You have a client waiting."

She looked out from around several boxes she had moved in her attempt to find something to help her reach the vase. "Sorry, sempai."

He raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

She looked up at the vase, just out of reach. "I found a vase but I can't get to it."

"I see… one moment." He stepped back out of the storeroom, leaving Haruhi alone again.

She glanced up at the offending vase. Wondering for a brief moment if she could will it down off the shelf. A hand then came into view over her head and she felt the press of a tall lean body against her back. She looked up as Mori pulled the vase from the shelf, handing it carefully to her with a smile. "Thank you, Mori-sempai." She said surprised to see the tall senior in the back room, she hadn't even heard him come in.

"Ah." He nodded with a soft smile before returning back into the music room.

She entered the clubroom soon after, vase in hand and moved over to her table. There was a familiar head a bright red hair waiting for her. "Kasanoda-kun!" She smiled happily at the heir to the yakuza bloodline. It had been some time since she had last seen the kind-hearted red head, and between class and the club she hadn't seen him around much.

He looked up, startled. "Fujioka! Um, hi. How are you?"

She set the vase down on the table, noticing that her roses had been moved for her. "I've been good and sorry to keep you waiting, Kasanoda-kun, but I was having some trouble getting this vase down from the storeroom."

He shook his head. "N-No, that's ok." He watched as she open the large bouquet of flowers and started to carefully arrange them in the vase. "Who did you get the flowers from?" He asked with mild curiosity. He wondered if she liked flowers. Maybe he should have brought her some. He wondered what kinds of flowers she even liked and if he even was allowed to give the hostess gifts.

"They were from Tamaki-sempai, but I don't really care for cut flowers much." She carefully slipped another flower into the vase. "I'm always sad to see them wilt away and die."

He felt his heart speed up at the wistful expression on her face and the soft look in her large doe like eyes. She was such a sweet girl. He found himself watching her every smallest movement as she carefully placed the cut roses into the deep vase.

The young ladies sitting with the twins suddenly went quite, turning to look towards Haruhi's table. "Is that Kasanoda-kun?"

Hikaru scoffed, sitting back. "Yeah, he's booked Haruhi three times this week."

"Oh~, that makes sense." The girls smiled to each other.

"Pff… how so?" Hikaru snapped, gaining a look from his brother.

The ladies didn't seem to notice his tone. "Why, every girl knows that Kasanoda-kun is in love with Haruhi-chan."

Her friend nodded. "Yeah and since she's already turned him down once, this must be the only way his lonely heart can be near her."

The girls clenched their hearts. "Wonderful!" They sighed happily at the look of love and affection on the gang member's hard face. Their hearts went out to him.

Hikaru looked away. His brother gave him a gentle smile.

Kasanoda contently watched her pick up the last of the roses and jumped when she let out a small yelp, dropping to the rose to the floor. She held her hand tightly. He rushed to his feet. "Are you alright, Fujioka?!"

She frowned at the small drop of blood that formed on the tip of her finger. She didn't protest when Kasanoda took her hand from her to have a closer look. "Yeah, I just pricked my finger on one of the thorns."

Seeing that her wound wasn't serious he reluctantly let go of her hand, a small blush on his cheeks. Quickly he picked a small napkin off the table and handed it to her. "Here."

She smiled. "Thank you, Kasanoda-kun." She pressed the clean white napkin to her finger and waited for the bleeding to stop.

A girl sitting at a nearly table passed out at the mention of blood. Her friends rushed to her side. Tamaki was there in a flash. "What happened princess?" He helped to pick the drooping girl off the floor, looking around at her friends.

A first year with large eyes pointed over to Haruhi, still holding the napkin to her finger. "Haruhi-sama got cut and Lina-chan is very faint around blood." She frowned, worried for her best friend.

"Haruhi's hurt?!" He almost dropped the poor girl onto the floor again in his rush to check on his lovely Haruhi.

She clutched her hand to her chest protectively to prevent the blond haired prince from taking it from her. "I'm fine, sempai. The bleeding has almost stopped now anyways."

Tamaki paled. "Bleeding!" He looked around franticly. "Someone call 911! Doctor! Hospital! Haruhi has been hurt!"

"Sempai!" She snapped, gaining the blond's attention. "I'm fine." She said firmly.

He looked at her uncertainly, glancing down at her hand again. "Are you sure?"

She nodded, moving the napkin to see that the bleeding had stopped. "Yeah, I'm sure."

Tamaki knelt down and picked up the forgotten rose, leaning past Haruhi to place it with the others. He was close enough that for a moment Haruhi was wrapped in the spicy smell of his cologne. "I'll get you a bandage." He spoke softly next to her ear as he leaned back up and walked into the prep-room where they kept their first aid kit.

Haruhi watched the prince thoughtfully. She was used to his mood swings but they always seemed to surprise her.

He came back a few moments later. This time she didn't fight when Tamaki reached for her hand. The girls sitting around them watched intently as he removed the napkin from her hand, slipping it into his pocket before carefully applying the bandage. To finish it off, he brought her hand up to his lips, laying a small kiss on the tip of her figure. The girls nearby swooned.

She blinked, raising her eyes from her hand to meet Tamaki's. "…Thanks." She gave him a small smile, taking her hand from his. Sometimes, when he wasn't being an idiot, he could be very sweet.

He didn't say anything, just smiled softly and returned to his customers.

Haruhi sat down, realizing that Kasanoda was sitting at the edge of the couch, watching her. Her eyes moved over to the empty teacups sitting on the table. "Oh, I haven't even poured you any tea yet. I'm not being a good host today, it would seem."

He didn't care about the tea really. He was enjoying just being able to be near her. His dark eyes looked over at Tamaki, now sitting down with his guests. Even if her heart belonged to someone else, he was happy to just be able to see her smile.

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By the end of the week, all the girls were talking about Haruhi. Even during club hours the students hotly debated who she should hook up with, why and how. At the head of these discussions, Renge happy listened to all their suggestions, countering their comments and drove them on. It was during one of these debates that she came up with her wonderful idea and suggested it to Kyouya at their next meeting.

The host club was called to a meeting later that afternoon. Kyouya stood at the head of the group with Renge at his side. She smiled at the group.

"Renge, why are you here?" Haruhi asked with mild interest. Though the lady manager was always in the background of the clubs working, it wasn't often that she partook in the meetings and events themselves. She seemed to prefer to just watch over the club, rather then take part in it.

Kyouya smirked. "I figured it was only fair that she be apart of this meeting, seeing how it was her wonderful idea that I called you all here for."

"Wonderful" – "Idea?" The twins looked at each other.

Renge nodded. "That's right!" She smiled, looking about the group before looking to Kyouya for the go ahead. When he nodded she turned back to the group. "We are going to give the ladies of Ouran the chance to create 'Haruhi's Dream Date!'"

"Haruhi's… dream date?" The guys exchanged looks.

Kyouya pushed his glasses back into place and smiled. "We are going to let the ladies vote on not only who Haruhi will go out on a date with but also where."

Haruhi blinked. They had to be kidding.

Renge's eyes filled with stars. "Oh just thinking about it makes me want to scream! It's a fangirl's dream! Ohhhhh! But who will get to take her to the ball? Or dancing! Maybe a simple beachside walk in the moonlight! So many possibility, so many matches and its up to the students to decide."

"Kyouya-sempai!" The twins crowded around their dark vice-president. "You can't be serious."

"And why not?" He looked down on them. "I think it will be very interesting to see who the students think is worthy for Haruhi, don't you think?" He smirked. "Besides, it might even be one of you who will get to go on the date."

The brothers looked at each other, not really upset with the idea of getting a chance to go on a date with Haruhi but still a little unsure of the whole idea. The others seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Everyone turned to the girl in question.

Kyouya looked at her. "Oh? You don't like the idea?"

Haruhi frowned. "No that's not it, it's just…"

"You already have someone you would like to go on a date with?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Then…?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it. She had nothing. Haruhi sighed in defeat. She hated that they always decided everything for her. Mind you, all she would have to do was spend a day with one of the hosts. That wasn't so bad. She might even have fun.

Renge jumped around excitedly. "Oh, I have to go tell the girls! We can start voting right away and we can even set the date up for next weekend." She quickly left the room.

Tamaki slide up beside his dark friend. "Kyouya…" He said sweetly. "How will the student's be voting?" He asked, his voice low.

Kyouya was busy jotting down notes in his notebook and didn't even look up to answer. "And why would you want to know that?"

"Oh... no reason."

The twins closed in on the blond prince. "You're thinking of cheating, aren't you?" They accused.

"N-n-no! I had no such idea." He shrank away from the brothers.

"Oh sure. You just want to have her all to yourself."

Tamaki looked away. "Well…"

Hikaru leaned in. "Oh, so you are thinking about cheating?" Tamaki just smiled innocently.

Hunny watched the exchange in mild interest. He looked up at his cousin. "I think it would be fun to be picked to go on a date with Haru-chan, don't you think so too, Takashi?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

Haruhi looked around her group of friends, her eyes coming to rest on Kyouya. He smirked and she sighed. "Even you, Kyouya-sempai?"

He closed his notebook. "I think it would be, if anything, interesting." He smiled. Which didn't make Haruhi feel any better about it.

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Did you like it? I hope you did. But now I don't need you to review, but **VOTE**! As a fan of the ouran host club, who do you think should be voted as Haruhi's date in the upcoming chapter?


	3. Walk on the Wild side

**Learn to Fly**  
Chapter 3

Haruhi's Dream Date Content Current Vote  
Kaoru - 2  
Hikaru - 0  
Hunny - 1  
Mori - 3  
Kyouya - 1  
Tamaki - 0

Come on people, vote! Pick whichever host you would like to see win the Dream Date with Haruhi. I'll keep the above list up to date with the current votes. haha....Looks like Mori is in the lead again!

* * *

"No."

"Oh come on, Haruhi! We can't go without you!"

"Yes, you can."

"No, it wont be the same!"

She glared at the members of the host club standing in her small living room. Tamaki and the twins smiled sweetly at her. "Pleaasseeee." They begged.

She glared at them. "No, I have things to do today." She needed to clean and go out to the store to get some things for tonight's dinner. Not to mention she had a lot of cloths that needed to be washed and sheets to clean.

She felt a small tug on her sleeve. "But Haru-chan," The small senior gave her the largest puppy eyes she had ever seen. "We would really love it if you came to the Zoo with us."

She looked into the bright brown eyes of the small senior and couldn't say no. Damn the host club and their dirty tricks.

A little over an hour later she found herself sitting in a large black limo with the entire host club seated comfortable in the back. Hunny kicked his feet back and forth as they pulled into the Zoo's parking lot, a smile on his sweet face. "Haru-chan, you look so cute today."

"You think?" She looked down at the simple shorts and t-shirt she had on along with the small sweater she had tied around her waist incase it got cool out. She had made sure to wear her comfortable running shoes and packed a large beach bag with various things she was sure they were going to need over the course of the day. It was not like she was dressed up or anything but she wanted to make sure she would be comfortable for their long day at the Zoo.

Tamaki had himself pressed against the window in his attempt to drink of the scenery of the Zoo, his eyes as large a dinner plates. "We are here!" He bounced in his seat as he waited for the vehicle to come to a stop before rushing out of the door before the poor driver could even open it for them.

It was a nice Saturday morning. The weather was suppose to stay sunny and continue to warm up over the course of the day. It was a good day for a trip to the Zoo, so it was rather busy. People stopped, stared and pointed at the limo as the teens piled out.

Haruhi sighed. Why did they always feel the need to stand out? She glanced around at the growing crowed. She could hear them talking amount themselves, wondering if they was some kind of celebrity doing charity work. Maybe they were doing a shoot here with the animals, after all there were so many attractive men in the group.

Their group started to move towards the ticket booth at the entrance. Tamaki happily poured his charms on the young lady in the booth who blushed and fanned herself with their tickets a few times before handing them to the blond prince. He returned with a large grin and passed out the small paper stabs.

Tamaki bounced around like a child at the sights and sounds of the zoo. "Look, Haruhi! A gift shop!" He smiled and moved to go take a look but she grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Have you never been to a Zoo before, sempai?" She asked once she had the teen under control.

He shook his head.

"Okay then, we are going to need some rules or one of you might get lost." She looked around for a map of the zoo, finding Kyouya casually flipping through one of the Zoo's programs next to the information desk.

The twins crossed their arms. "We aren't little kids you know."

She glanced over at them as she picked up enough maps for everyone. "Sometimes it's hard to remember." She handed one to each of them.

Kyouya walked back to the group. "I agree with Haruhi on this. We should set some rules incase we get separated from each other."

Tamaki's eyes followed a group of kids as they moved off towards the bird exhibit just behind them. Haruhi grabbed his arm again before he wondered off.

Hunny giggled from his seat on his cousin's large shoulders. "We should set a time to meet up!" He cheerfully suggested.

Haruhi nodded. "Good idea, Hunny-sempai." She looked down at her watch before opening her map. The others gathered around. "Okay we are here right now." She pointed to the entrance. "The Zoo is, more or less, a giant circle but it's very large so we might lose each other." It had been a long time since she had been to the Zoo herself, however she did remember their being a large park near the back of the Zoo. She looked over the map and found it tucked next to the main food court. She pointed to it. "Here. This is where we are going to have lunch."

The twins frowned. "We are going to eat here?"

She raised her eyebrow at them. "Unless you want to be hungry all day."

They shook their heads. "Well no..." - "It's just. Isn't it kind of dirty?"

She sighed. "It's not like you are going to be eating with the animals, you know. Anyways, this is where are going to have lunch. So this will be the first place for us to regroup. We'll try to get there for a little after noon. Okay?" They all nodded. "Good. After that we will meet up back here for around... four-ish. That should give us lots of time to go through the park."

"Yes, boss!" The twins saluted her before rushing off towards the bird exhibit. Tamaki trailing right behind them.

"Come on, Takashi! I want to see the birds."

"Ah." Mori followed behind the others.

She walked calmly behind them with Kyouya at her side. She looked over at the more serious teen. "Why do I tend to feel like I'm babysitting when we all go out like this?" She sighed. They were going to wear themselves out at this pace. It was going to be a long day.

He smirked, his eyes trying to keep track of their friends as they moved over to the birds of pray exhibits. He spared a quick look at the girl walking next to him. "Trust me, I know the feeling."

"Haruhi! Kyouya! Look, look!" Tamaki jumped up above the crowd to get their attention. He pointed to the large eagle but got distracted by the talking parrot a few cages down and ran off to see it.

After the bird they found themselves in the Arctic animal section of the park. They all stood in the lower section next to the tank where the penguins were swimming. The zipped and sped around in the water in small groups. Looping in and around each other. She found herself laughing at their happy little acrobatic acts. Something flashed off to the side.

She turned to see the twins grinning widely, a camera in Kaoru's hand.

"Hey!" She protested as the two bent their heads over the small digital display to see the picture. They moved the camera away from her when she went to take a look.

"Uh-uh-uhhhaa. You can see the pictures after we get them developed." They hide the device behind their backs.

She frowned. "I didn't know you guys had brought a camera with you." She felt a little self-conscious now. She never liked getting her picture taken.

"Takashi! I want a picture with Haru-chan!" The little blond moved off from his cousin's shoulders and hugged Haruhi's arm. Mori moved into position with another camera.

"You guys too?" She frowned.

Mori just nodded. "Smile." She did, reluctantly, and was blinded by the flash.

Still trying to get the star spots out of her eyes, she heard Tamaki rush over. "What? You guys brought cameras with you? Why didn't anything tell me we were going to be able to take pictures?!" He looked between the two seniors and the grinning doppelgangers.

"Come on boss, since when do you need to have permission before brining a camera with you." They mocked.

Hunny, still hugging her arm, started to pull Haruhi away from the other boys. "Come on Haru-chan, I want to go see the polar bears."

She let herself be dragged off. "Uh, sure." She looked about. "Hey have you guys seen Kyouya?"

Mori glanced around, using his height to his advantage. He pointed to one of the other enclosures across the way that held a flock of pink flamingos. "He's talking with a Zoo official."

Haruhi looked to where he was pointing and did indeed find their shadow king writing things down in his notebook while he chatted with a park employee. No doubt learning about how they run things and brought in their money. She frowned slightly thinking how it seemed to be hard for Kyouya to let lose and have fun.

She was then ambushed from behind, the twins jumping on her, almost causing them to fall to the ground in a crumpled heap. The brothers laughed. Hikaru looping his arm through her free one. "Hey, don't leave us behind!"

Kaoru leaned on his brother's shoulder, smiling like a cat. Behind them came the angry protest of their princely leader as he moved through the crowd to keep from getting left behind.

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They leaned closer to the railing, glazing into the deep animal exhibit.

"I wonder..."

Tamaki looked over at Haruhi. "You wonder?" He prompted curiously.

Her brow furrowed with a thought. "Yeah... I was wondering if it bit you, do you think it could take your arm right off?" She looked over at the now shaken looking blond.

"Wha-Why would you want to know that?!" He moved a little away from the girl.

Haruhi blinked and looked back down at the yawning hippos. "Well, cause they have such big mouths but their teeth don't really look like they could take a bit out of you." She answered simple with a small, perplexed frown on her lips and Tamaki moved closer again, no longer worried about the possibility of bodily harm.

He studied the large animals now as they floated lazily in the shallow water of their exhibit. "I... would think so. Maybe... I'm not sure." She was right though, he wasn't sure if those thick long and widely spaced teeth would be enough to take an arm off.

The shadow king looked back at the pair leaning together against the railing of the hippo exhibit. They looked like a couple with their shoulders almost touching. He wondered what was going through the blonds head and if he had come to better terms with his feelings for their innocent hostess. '"Haruhi, Tamaki, come along now." Kyouya called.

The blond jumped and smiled over at his friend, Haruhi odd question gone from his mind. "Coming Mother!" He grabbed Haruhi's arm, starting to pull her over to the next enclosure.

"H-Hey!" She struggled to keep her footing.

"Come on Haruhi! I want to see the tigers too!" He freed her arm once they had rejoined the others next to the tiger exhibit. The twins were in a hearted discussion.

"Yes you can! I'm sure I've seen it somewhere."

"No, I don't think so, Hikaru."

"Yes, it's possible! I'm sure they will have one here."

She approached them with interesting. "What are you two talking about?"

They turned to her. Kaoru straightened up, putting his hand on his hip. "Hikaru seems to think it's possible to breed a lion and a tiger together."

Hikaru nodded. "It is! I know I saw it somewhere... Maybe on TV or something."

"Oh!" They looked at her. "Ligers."

The twins blinked, looked at each other and then back at her again. "What's a Liger?"

Kyouya moved in behind them. "A Liger is the resulting breed of large cat from the mating of a male lion with a female tiger." He looked up from his notebook. "And no, they do not have any here."

"Awwww." The brothers frowned, disappointed.

Haruhi turned to the dark haired vice-president. "Kyouya, I didn't know you knew so much about animals."

He looked at her over his glasses, his dark eyes seemed to hold a chill in them. "There is a lot, Haruhi, that you don't know about me." He pushed them back into place and joined the others looking through the thick glass of the tiger exhibit.

She looked at his back for a moment, a little taken back by his words. While it was true that she didn't know them as well as she could, it wasn't like she didn't want to learn more about her friends. It was just that… sometimes they made it difficult sometimes.

"Haru-chan, look!" Hunny waved her over.

Mori took a step to the side to make room for Haruhi to have a look at the tigers. She pressed her hands against the glass. "Awww!" She couldn't help it. It was so cute. Two small tiger cubs were playing together right in front of the glass. The smaller one followed behind its slightly larger sibling, pawing at its tail. When it went to pounce it tripped over its large paws and stumbled into the glass before rolling over onto this back. It licked its front paws for a moment before noticing them through the glass. Haruhi wiggled a figure at it. The small kitten jumped against the glass and when it couldn't get through what it thought was some strange force field, it decided to instead lick the glass. Haruhi smiled. "Hello there, little one." She called to it as it eyed her through the glass again before licking it. She giggled lightly.

The guys smiled as they watched the exchange between their good friend and the tiger cub behind the glass. It wasn't often that they got to see her being so much of a girl, but it was refreshing.

The little cub was jumped on by it's sibling and chanced away from the glass, Haruhi still smiling, turned to see where here friends had gone. Noticing that they were being oddly quite. The smile slowly left her lips and a slightly confused look crossed her face. She tilted her head. "What are you all grinning about?" Her question made them smile wider.

Tamaki was the first to make a move, rushing forward he wrapped his arms around her tightly. "Oh Haruhi! My cute cute girl! You love that kitty so much. It's so cute!" The idea hit him so hard it caused him to let go of Haruhi so suddenly that if the twins hadn't been behind her she would have fallen to the ground. The prince turned to his darker friend. "Kyouya! Buy that tiger cub for Haruhi! She must have it!" Tamaki pointed from his friend to the small cat now cleaning itself.

Kyouya raised his brow but didn't say anything. Other visitors paused as well, looking at the group of noisy teens with interest.

The brothers set Haruhi back onto her and grabbed Tamaki. "Come on boss, people are starting to stare." – "Yeah you're causing a scene." They pulled him off towards the next enclosure where Hunny and Mori were already waiting for the group to catch up.

Haruhi looked back at the tigers, seeing the little cub again pawing at the glass near her. She hoped that Tamaki wasn't really serious about the cub. She gave it a little wave and turned to see Kyouya waiting for her.

She gave him a small nervous smile. "Your not really going to buy the cub are you?"

He chuckled. "Heavens No. If I did most of the things he asked of me, we'd both be out of the street."

She let out her breath. "Thank god cause all I could picture was him getting mulled to death by it later."

He looked at her, his eyes dancing with mischief. "Maybe I should consider getting it for him then."

She opened her mouth to protest but then noticed the shin in his eyes. He was just teasing her. She laughed. So he was having fun after all, that was good to know.

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They carefully laid the blanket down onto the grass in the small nature park. A few picnic tables were scattered about the grass, some filled with families sitting down to have their lunch while others just enjoyed some time to rest. Trees peppered the field to provide shade for the visitors while the song of birds filled the air. Though right in the middle of a busy Zoo park, it felt like a little oasis.

Hikaru looked down at the blanket. "Why are we going to sit on the grass again?"

His brother, already sitting down, grabbed his hand forcing him to sit. "Cause there isn't enough room on a bench for all of us, Hikaru."

The girl frowned. "Take off your shoes first before sitting down, else you are going to get grass all over the blanket."

The twins quickly slipped off their shoes and arrange them neatly at the edge of the blanket. The others followed suit before sitting in a small circle on the blanket.

Tamaki looked around the group. "Now what?" He asked eagerly. This commoner's trick for eating outdoor was very interesting and he wondered what Haruhi was going to have them do next.

Haruhi was still digging through her bag, pulling out several bags and tupperware containers. "I hope this will be alright for lunch. You guys didn't exactly give me a warning."

Hunny picked up a small clear bag filled with buns. "You brought us a lunch, Haru-chan?" The others picked up some of the other containers, finding sliced cold cuts, lettuce, tomatoes, veggies and some other snacks.

She paused. "Wasn't I?"

They all shook their heads.

She sighed. "Well, too late now." She took back some of the contained from their hands, arranging them in the middle of the blanket. "I didn't have time to make sandwiches, so I just brought everything do make them. I figured it would be more fun to make them ourselves and that way you can put whatever you like onto them." Her eyes held a far off look as she slowly opened up the bag of buns. "I remembered doing this with my mom and dad when I was little once... I remember thinking how fun it was."

Tamaki and the twins sniffed. "You heard her boys! Lets do our best making sandwiches so she can only again reconnect with her mother through her long lost memories of the times they spent together!" The twins nodded in agreement with their king.

She just glared at them. "That's not necessary." She shoved a bun into their waiting hands and watched as they carefully piled things onto them.

Tamaki smiled, adding a slice of cheese to his sandwich. "You're right, this is kind of fun." He grinned.

"You're just making a sandwich, sempai, if anything for you it's different. Since normally you have other's make them for you."

He seemed to think about this. "Hmm… I guess you're right! Well here goes." He took a large bit out of his sandwich. "Mmmmm-muuu-mmee-muuu!"

Kyouya stopped before talking a bit of his. "Don't talk with your mouth full, Tamaki. We can't understand you anyways."

He tried to swallow his food, but started to chock. The twins hit him, not very gently on the back till he stopped. Breathing hard, the prince held up the sandwich. "It's… haaa… good." He grinned again before taking yet another bit.

"Well, don't get you're killed over it. It's just a sandwich." She sighed and felt a small pull on her shirt.

"Haru-chan, aren't you going to eat too?"

"Oh yeah, your right I'll-" She looked down to find the blanket a mess. Tomatoes and bits of everything were scattered around the place. Most of the stuff was gone; the rest lay on the blanket. Her shoulder's dropped. "I guess… I'll just have a bun." So much for a sandwich.

"Here." Mori held out his sandwich, placing it into her hands.

She looked down at the simple bun, a single bite messing from it. She looked up at her quite friend. "Mori, are you sure? You don't have to. What are you going to eat then?"

He only got to his feet, towering over the small group of friends sitting on the group. He smiled, placing his hand onto of her head and giving her hair a small ruffle. "I'll find something." And he walked off towards the food courts.

Hunny watched his cousin with a small knowing smile and returned back to eating his lunch. Takashi would be fine without him for a little while.

The twins looked at each other, speaking in hushed tones. "Idiots! We took all the food and let none for Haruhi." Hikaru growled, angry at himself and the others for being greedy.

"And why didn't we think of giving Haruhi our sandwiches too." The brothers looked down at their more then half eaten meals before looking back over at their friend as she lifted her new sandwich to her lips. "But Mori-sempia-"

"Already took a bite."

"So it's a…"

"Indirect kiss!" The twins reached out to stop her as she bit into her meal. Tamaki paled. Mori had given Haruhi a sandwich with a bite missing. That meant his lips had touched it and now Haruhi was going to touch her lips to the same sandwich and thus performing in an indirect kiss? He felt his world slip out from under him and his body fall into the large void of non-existence below.

She licked her lips. "Mmm.. good." She smiled at Hunny, seeing his brown eyes on her, complete oblivious to the woes of the other boys in the group. She continued to enjoy her meal while chatting with Hunny about what other animals he hoped to see that afternoon.

Kyouya sitting across from Haruhi, simply continued to eat his meal in silence. Trying hard to forget how big of idiots his friends were.

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Haruhi walked between the twins as they all moved down a small forested path that would lead into the next section of the Zoo. The twins stopped. "What's that?" They pointed to a small handful of wooden buildings with tiled roofs at the bottom of another smaller path that turned off of their own.

Haruhi quickly opened up her map. "It says that it's the Critter and Reptile Houses." The twins grinned. "Shall we go?" She looked up at the guys.

Kyouya nodded. "I don't see why not. We are here anyways and it might be interesting to see what exotic creatures they have in house." He hadn't even finished before the twins and Tamaki were out of sight.

Hunny, sitting up on Mori's shoulders sighed, leaning on his cousin's head. "Even I'm starting to get tired but Tama-chan, Hika-chan and Kao-chan don't seem tired at all."

Mori nodded tiredly also. "Ah…"

Haruhi, still looking at her map, started down the stone path. "Well, there isn't too much more after this. So we are almost done." She knew how they felt. It was mid-afternoon now and her legs were starting to burn from all the walking they had done. Not to mention how hot it was getting outside despite the time of year. She was going to be lucky if she didn't have blisters tomorrow.

Kyouya glanced down over her shoulder at the map as they walked. "Well that's good. I had had some things I had hoped to get done today."

She looked over at him. "You mean you weren't in on this?" She gave him an accusing eye.

He smirked. "You know as well as any of us how unexpected and sudden Tamaki's plans can be. He puts very little planning into his actions."

She nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

They found the rest of their party standing at the edge of a small crowd of onlookers just outside the reptile house. A few park employees were busy showing off different snakes and lizards to the many kids who were gathered around.

Tamaki moved a little closer to Haruhi. "What are they doing? They aren't going to feed the kids to those snakes are they?"

"No, sempai. It's what's called a touch and feel show."

The twins snickered. "A touch and feel show?"

Hikaru grinned and elbowed their princely leader. "Sounds like something a pervert like you would enjoy, boss." His brother laughed.

"Hey! I am not a pervert!" Tamaki yelled, glaring at the brothers who only laughed harder.

His outburst at caught the crowd's attention however and many parents took their children and either moved away from their small group or left altogether. Much to the dismay of their children who wanted to see more of the small display.

The twins laughed. "Look boss, your scaring the children now!"

"Why you - two faced doppelgangers!" He grinded his teeth in angry. Wanting to get back at the twins in some way but unsure how. So he settled on giving them dirty looks.

Haruhi and the others moved closer to the demonstration now that the crowd had thinned a little. The employees, wanting to selvage their small show put on their best smiled. "How about you, little lady, would you like to help us hold our big friend Buddha?" He held out a hand to her, looking at Haruhi.

"Me?" She pointed to herself, a little unsure. Mori gave her a small push towards to park demonstrator and she took his hand and allowed herself to be lead up onto their small stage.

"Now why don't you just stand right here and look cute for us." The man instructed, moving her to stand between himself and the other young man putting a few smaller snakes back into their tanks.

"Right here?" She figitated a little, looking at her friends now standing at the front of the crowd. The twins gave her the thumbs up. It made her smile.

"Yes, yes that's good." The man turned to a large box that was sitting behind a few of the smaller crates of animals. "Now, I hope you're not afraid of snakes." He looked at her briefly. She shook her head to tell him she wasn't. "Wonderful!" He leaned into the box and then struggled to stand back up with a large smooth coil moving in his arms. His partner rushed over to help him left the large, very large, and heavy looking snake out of the box.

The host club watched in shock. They had never seen a snake so big. Tamaki, having not even noticed the very large and very obvious snake, couldn't help but think Haruhi looked so cute standing up on that small makeshift stage.

"This is Buddha." The man had the large brown and black python draped over his shoulders. The snakes tail dragged on the ground while it's head moved almost lazily around, looking at nothing of interest while it's forked tongue flicked in and out. "He's about eight years old now and loves the ladies." He smiled as he brought the snake slowly closer. Haruhi watched with interest. She had seen large snakes before but never so close.

It was only at this point that Tamaki noticed the very large and to him, very mean looking snake being brought ever closer to his lovely Haruhi.

Hunny noticed the younger blonds sudden change in demeanor and quickly leaned over from his cousin's shoulder to give the prince a small tug on his hair before he did something rash.

Tamaki looked up, his eyes swimming with horrid thoughts. His little Haruhi was going to be eaten! He was going to have to do something and what did Hunny want at such a critical time!

Hunny just smiled. "Don't worry, Tama-chan! It seems that the park guy is right and that the snake likes girls. So don't worry, Haru-chan is alright."

The twins were clapping as Haruhi now stood on her own with the large snake on her shoulders. She was having a very hard time standing there with it's weight on her. The twins whipped out their camera and started to take a few pictures.

"Come on guys, this thing is heavy. Do you need to take so many pictures?" She shifted a little when the snake moved to bring its head up closer to her face. It's tongue flicked across her cheek. Another flash blinded her.

The demonstrator started to ease the beast off of her a little. "I have an idea, why don't you and your friends hold old Buddha here and I will take a picture of you together?"

"Great idea!" Chorused the brothers. Who, with help from the park people, arranged the small group of friends for the picture with the large snake while the snake man took the picture with their camera. "Cheese!" They all smiled.

Again working the dots out of her vision. She noticed that it was once again just her and Kyouya, the others having taken off into the reptile house. The large snake was now back in its box and the employees had moved onto showing off other creepy crawlies to the kids. A lady had joined the men with their animal demonstration, picking out large hissing cockroaches from a small plastic container and placing them on the kids hands and shoulders.

Kyouya watched Haruhi as she kelt down to get a closer look at one of the large flat bugs that had been placed on a little boys shoulder. The little brown haired boy whimpered, obviously not enjoying having the creature on him. Kyouya smirked, finding the scene of Haruhi with the little boy somewhat cute.

"And one for you sir!" The girl handing out the bugs battered her eyelashes at him as she placed a very large and very fuzzy tarantula on his shoulder. Kyouya just looked at it.

Haruhi, having removed the bug from the boy and returned it back to the handlers returned to find Kyouya still standing where she had left them "We should hurry up, sempai, or we are going to lose the others." She took a few steps towards the reptile house but stopped when he didn't follow. "Sempai?" She called back.

He was standing very very still as the spider worked its way down his shoulder a little and onto his chest. The only part of him that moved were his eyes as he tracked the small creature.

Haruhi cautiously moved closer, slightly concerned. "Umm… Kyouya-sempai?" She noticed the fuzzy spider then and put two and two together. Places her hand flat against Kyouya's chest in front of the spider and ever so gently, tapped its abdomen to get it to walk onto her hand. As soon as it was on her, she moved away and life seemed to come back into the shadow king. He took one long stride back from her and a large intake of breath. While he worked on getting his nerves back together, Haruhi returned the spider to one of the keepers.

She places her hand carefully on his arm. "Are you alright now, Kyouya, sempai?" She looked him in the eyes, a little worried.

He looked away from her. Straighten up, he pushing his glasses back into place. The sun shinning against the lenses, hid his eyes from her. "If you ever tell anyone about this, the consequences will be dire." With that, he walked off towards where the others had gone.

Haruhi watched him for a moment, blinked a few times before smiling. Kyouya was deathly scared of spiders it would seem. She laughed. It was defiantly something she hadn't know before and might never had known if it hadn't been for this little trip. "You're secret's safe with me." She smiled again and had to jog a little to catch back up with the others.

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Having seen every exhibit the Zoo had to offer the host club made their way towards their final destination.

"Ohhhh, the gift shop!" Tamaki happily chapped his hands together. "Come on Haruhi! Lets go see what they have." He took her hand and pulled her into the brightly colored shop.

Once inside they were greeted with wall to wall toys, figures and most of all stuffed animals. The others came in behind them, looking about.

Hunny was glowing. "Look Takashi! Look at all these cute stuffed animals." He rushed over to a bin filled with stuffed monkeys and looked up at his bigger cousin. "Maybe we should get a friend for Usa-chan!"

The taller man smiled. "I think Usa-chan might like that."

Hunny grinned again before turning to look around at the other stuffed animals.

Kyouya wondered over to the science and learning toys portion of the shop. Looking at the many books with vague interest. The twins in the meantime had found a robotic lizard and were happily playing with it. While Tamaki bounced all over the store, excited over every little commoner toy and torn between buying a few things and the entire store.

Haruhi slowly browsed through the gifts. Wondering if she should get something small for her dad. However, she hadn't brought much money with her but she knew he would love a gift. She found a display filled with little metal keychains with the Zoo's name and logo on them, each with its own animal carved into its smooth surface. She gentle touched one with a elephant on it.

"Haru-chan! Look!" Hunny run up next to her, holding up a small stuffed tiger cub. "Isn't it cute?" He giggles and moved off to find Takashi.

Haruhi looked down at the small stuffed animal now in her hands. It was cute, very cute in fact. Also it was soft and reminded her of the tiger cub she had seen earlier. She smiled.

"Haruhi!" Tamaki called from the cash desk, waving over the displays to make sure he had her attention. "Are you almost done, Haruhi?"

"Yeah, I'm done, sempai." She answered back, turning to place the small stuffed cub back onto one of the shelves stuffed with other animals. Long fingers plucked the cub from her grasp before she was able to set it down. She looked over her shoulder to find the shadow king. "Kyouya-sempai?"

The glare from the lights hid his eyes. "I owe you, as much as I hate to admit it, but remember my warning." He joined the line for the cash registers behind the other host members who had piled their armfuls of items onto the small counter. The young man behind the cash tried to hide his frustration over having to ring through so many purchases.

Since not all of their purchases would fit into the trunk of their limo, the host club was forced to put many of their bags in the back with them. Haruhi sat next to the door with Tamaki at her side, a small plastic gift bag clasp firmly in her hands least she lose it amongst the hundred others.

Tamaki looked at the bag in her hands curiously. "Hurahi, what did you end up getting?"

"Hmm?" She looked up at the blond prince. "Oh, I didn't get anything at the gift shop."

He frowned. "Then what's in the bag?"

She slowly opened up the bag and pulled out the small stuffed tiger cub. "Kyouya-sempai bought it for me." She smiled at the small stuffed creature. "I thought it was cute."

"K-K-Kyouya?!" The blond turned on his friend, his mouth hanging open. He had gotten Haruhi a gift?! And he didn't tell him!

Kyouya however, didn't even look up from his laptop at his best friends outburst. He had lots of work to catch up on.

Haruhi put the small plushy back into its bag and yawned. It had been a long day, but at least she had had a lot of fun. She didn't even notice she had fallen asleep till Tamaki gentle woke her when they pulled up to her apartment.

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Please remember to vote for who you would like to see Haruhi have a date with!! Reviews are welcome too~


	4. Sanctuary

**Learn to Fly**  
Chapter 4

* * *

Though the weekend trip to the Zoo had been exhausting, she had had a lot of fun. She had also been very happy when no one from the club showed up on her doorstep the following day. She had been able to get her chores and neglected homework finished up before the evening so that she was able to spend some time with her dad. Like always he had been working overly hard for them, she really wished she could give him something in return.

"So you want" – "To get something for your dad?" The twins leaned their elbows on the small round table, looking at her with interest.

She nodded. "Yeah, he's been working so hard and I want to get him something. You know, to say thanks."

"Hmm." They bowed their heads in thought.

Kyouya looked up from his notebook as he moved closer to the table. "Why not send him on a vacation or something. I'm sure he could use the break." He suggested.

"Yeah, I know he could but…" She sighed. "That's not something we can afford." She would love to send him away for even just a weekend to relax but she had no away of buying him such a gift, since it was against school rules to hold a job while attending Ouran, she had no way of making her own money to treat her dad with. Also, he wouldn't be able to miss much work since, although her school fees were paid for, they still have all their other household expenses to look after. She slumped down onto the table. "Maybe I could get the chairman to make an exception for me to get a part-time job."

The twins looked at each other. Kaoru leaned down a little till he was more on level with her. "You know Haruhi, if it means this much to you. We would be happy to give you the money." He offered tenderly, knowing how touching she could be when it came to money but really wanting to help her out.

She sat back up. "No, I can't take your money." She said firmly.

Kyouya pushed up his glasses. "You mean you wont take the money."

She shook her head. "You guys might not understand what it means to work for something but I don't need your handouts. I know I can find the right gift for my dad on my own."

Hikaru frowned. "We just offered cause we know it would mean a lot of you, you don't have to be so negative about it. A simple, 'No thanks' would have worked fine." He pushed back his chair, standing.

His brother looked up. "Hikaru, where are you going?" He started to stand to follow his twin.

"I'm just going to the bathroom, gees. I'll be back in a moment."

As Hikaru left the music room, his brother slide back down into his seat, letting out a small sigh.

Haruhi looked from the door to the remaining twin. "Is something the matter, Kaoru?"

He nodded. "Well, at least I think there is something up." He faced her, his gold eyes filled with concern. "I think something is bugging Hikaru, but I'm not sure what it is."

"Have you tried to ask him?" She glanced back at the door, waiting for it to open again and Hikaru to come in. She was worried that she had said something to bother him. If she had been a little harsh in turning down their offer, she didn't mean to be. She had really appreciated their offer but she couldn't accept it. It would make her fill guilty and she wouldn't have a way to pay them back.

Kaoru nodded. "Yeah, I've tried to ask a few times but he just doesn't feel like talking."

"Have you thought," Kyouya turned his attention to the remaining Hitachiin twin. "That this might be something he is trying to work out for himself?"

He looked back at him and after a moments thought, nodded. "Yeah, I've considered that. It's just… I'm not used to him keeping things from me."

"Well that's not very fair." Kaoru turned to Haruhi with slight surprise. She continued. "After all, everything is allowed to have their own secrets and thoughts. I'm sure you don't tell him everything either, right Kaoru?"

He laughed. "Yeah your right. Haha. I guess it's something I'm going to have to get used to."

Hikaru frowned as he pulled back his chair to sit back down. "What are you going to have to get used to?" He asked his brother; curious about the conversation he had just missed.

"You being an idiot." The twin answered back smartly.

Hikaru jumped back onto his feet. "Hey! What did I do to deserve that?!" His brother just laughed. "No, don't you laugh! What were you talking about anyways? It was me wasn't it?" He glared.

Kaoru grabbed at his sides while he laughed. "Hikaru- Hikaru just calm down." He wiped the tears from his eyes from laughing so hard. "I'm just teasing you."

Hikaru sat down in a huff, looking away from the small group.

Kyouya cleared his throat. "So back to the topic at hand," He turned to the brown-eyed girl. "If you wish to earn yourself some money, Haruhi. I'm sure we could come to some kind of arrangement."

Her eyes went cold. "With you, sempai? No way." She knew better then to make a bargain with the devil.

He smirked, closing his notebook before turning to take his leave. "Fine, if you don't even want to hear my terms, I'll leave you to it then."

Kaoru shook his head before turning back to her. "I have a feeling you made a good decision there."

"Yeah," She sighed. "Me too. But that still doesn't solve my problem." She tapped her chin while she thought. She wasn't allowed to hold a job, since it was against school rules but she was sure she should still be able to work… Too bad she wasn't very good at crafts or she could sell things to get the money she needed.

Kaoru looked over at his brother who still seemed to be lost in thought. He wondered what he was thinking about. He had been acting a little strange since their trip to the Zoo, though nothing at the time had seemed to be wrong.

"Here everyone is!" Hunny bounced into the room glowing like a ray of sunshine.

Haruhi smiled. "Hey, Hunny-sempai." She looked around. "Where is Mori-sempai?" It was a little unusual for Hunny to be on his own without his larger companion.

Hunny took the seat across from Haruhi, kicking his legs back and forth under the table. "Oh, Takashi had to do a few things before coming to the club this afternoon."

"Oh, I see." She didn't know what else to say, her thought turning back to what she should get her dad.

Hunny stopped kicking his legs and frowned. "Why is everyone so serious?"

Kaoru shrugged. "Haruhi is trying to find a way to make money so she can send her dad on a vacation."

The blond suddenly brightened. "Oh~ That's a great idea. Haru-chan's dad would love that for sure." He paused. "By why do you need to make money?"

She narrowed her eyes on him. "Cause, unlike you guys, I don't have any to spend on vacations."

"Oh…" Hunny frowned.

She pushed herself up, her chair sliding back. "Let's forget about this for now. I'm going to get things ready for our guests." She headed off into the backroom to get the cups and dishes they would be needing.

"I'm coming too." Hikaru suddenly got to his feet, following a few steps behind her.

Once in the backroom he leaned his back against the door. Haruhi moved to the many shelves and cupboards, pulling down a serving tray and filling it with some of the tableware they were going to use. Hikaru swallowed hard, he could do this.

She paused. "Hikaru, are you feeling alright?"

"Ahhh..." He pushed himself off the door, his head bowed. "I was wondering, if I could... uhh... I was wondering if we could talk a little?" He spared a glance at her through his hanging orange bangs.

She gave him a small smile. "If something is bothering you, Hikaru, you know you can always talk to me. I'm always happy to listen."

If it was that simple, then he would have talked to his brother about it... "It's not that something is bothering me..." He looked away. How could he say it? He clenched his fists as he felt his frustration start to give way to anger.

She tilted her head. "Oh, then what is it, Hikaru?" She leaned her back against the counter, waiting.

He opened his month to speak, but the words seem to just get caught in this back of his throat. He had to get out of there, the room was suddenly getting smaller. She would say no anyways. He had to leave before he did something he couldn't take back. With a small cry of frustration he threw open the door behind him and dashed out, leaving the very confused and worried girl behind.

She heard Kaoru shout out to his brother as he went running from the music room. The door slammed shut. The others gathered in the small group, wondering what had happened.

Kyouya turned to her as she moved to join them. "I hope this had nothing to do with something you said."

She shook her head. "At least... I don't think so." She frowned. "He said he wanted to talk to me about something but then just ran out the door." She looked to the guys to see if any of them had an explanation.

They looked at each other with a knowing look. Tamaki shook his head, placing his hand on his hip. Knowing Hikaru, it almost sounded like a failed confession on his part. "I think the only one who would have any real idea as to what is bothering our dear friend, would be his brother."

Her frowned deepened. "That's the thing. Kaoru mentioned that something had been bothering Hikaru but he wont tell him what it was."

The prince looked surprised at this. "Well that is odd, isn't it?" He crosses his arms and cast a look back over his shoulder to the music room doors. "Well, we may be out of a pair of loving brothers for today's club. The ladies will be disappointed." He swept his hair back from his violet eyes. "Now, come on men! - and Haruhi - the guests shall arrive soon and there is much to do."

The small group slowly disbanded and moved towards their club duties. Haruhi worried that Hikaru and Kaoru wouldn't come back into the club that day and wondered what was upsetting her friend so much.

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There was no sign of the twins for sometime. The guests fretted over their absence from the club, missing the hosts' lovely-brother act but other then that it was business as usual. After a time however Kaoru did return and walked straight to their shadow king of a vice-president. Haruhi was too far to hear what was spoken but their body language was enough to know that Kaoru hadn't been able to get through to his brother and that they would not be joining in the club today. Haruhi frowned.

"What's wrong, Haruhi-sempai?" The first year student sitting across from her blinked large blue eyes.

She brought her attention back to the girl she was hosting. "I was thinking about Hikaru and Kaoru."

"Ohhh~" The girl nodded. "I was wondering why they weren't in today. Did something happen?" She took a small slip of her tea, her eyes never leaving the hostess's face. She couldn't help but think that Haruhi-sempai had such gentle eyes and she was always so considerate and kind with the other host members. She wondered if maybe she could become a host but then threw that notion aside. Her family would never approve of such a thing.

Haruhi shrugged. "I'm not curtain what is going on with them today."

The girl set her cup down and folded her hands in her lap. "So, Haruhi-sempai, have you given it any thought as to who you would like to see win the date with you this weekend?"

She had actually forgotten about the whole Haruhi's-Dream-Date voting contest that Renge had started."Uh, no. I haven't thought about it much, to be honest."

The girl looked almost hurt. "But how can you not! This date might be the first to bigger things!" She leaned in across the table. "You have to at least have to have a favorite by now, who would you prefer the date be with? Cause I haven't voted yet and I wanted to vote for the one you liked the most…" She girl blushed lightly, sitting back.

She didn't know what to say to that. She didn't think she held any of the other club members above the others but seeing the girl waiting on her answer, Haruhi just smiled. "The whole idea is to see who you think should go. I'd much rather liked it if you used your vote how you wanted to."

The younger girl nodded, smiling happily. "I understand and I'll do my best!"

With her time up the girl left and Haruhi tidied up her table when the couch sank down next to her. She looked over to see their princely leader lounging next to her. She looked at him in question. "Sempai?"

He leaned his elbows on his knees. There was no glamour or games here, he wanted to talk. "Haruhi, I wanted to speak to you about a few things."

She looked over her tea set, a little unsure. It was rare for him to be this serious during club hours, something was definitely weighing on him. She wondered when her next client was to come in.

"Don't worry, you don't have any requests for a while." He looked at her, studying her.

She tried not to squirm under his gaze. "What is it, sempai?"

He smiled slightly then, noticing her slight unease. "I wanted to know how you have been feeling about the club recently. I know it's been a bit of a bother but I was wondering if you were enjoying your time here?"

She tilted her head. "Well," She thought about it for a moment. "Where I don't mind talking with the guests, it really feels more like work. It's not like hosting is something I do for fun. I kind of have no choice in the beginning anyways."

He let her words sink in. "Then what keeps you here? - I've just been curious, is all." He added quickly, looking away from her.

"Why, I think it's the same reason everyone is here." She smiled and he looked back at her. "Well, maybe expect for Kyouya, cause I know he enjoys the money, but because we are all friends."

His eyes widened a little at this. Because they were all friends...

She continued. "I know everyone was in a bit of an uproar when you said you were going to get rid of the club but it wasn't because of the club that we were all upset. It was because you were going to be leaving, Tamaki and we didn't want to lose a friend."

He sat up slowly, his eyes vary large.

She smiled, seeing she had struck a cord with him. He was worried about the club. "Even if there was no more host club, so long as we still had each other, I would be happy. Even if you guys tend to get on my nerves, I would miss not being around you."

He smiled then, slowly and softly. She always had a way of seeing right through him. She could read them all in fact. She was a wonderful and scary girl, able to see into the hearts of those who wish to hide them from the world. She knew he had been thinking about the future of the club and had with a few simple words soothed that worry from his heart. How he loved her... "That's sweet of you Haruhi."

She blinked. "You are being usually calm today, sempai."

"Oh~" He smiled and brushed his hair out from his eyes, stars seem to twinkle around him. "How can a prince like myself not enjoy the presence of a lovely lady like yourself without having his heart calmed by the soothing sound of your voice."

She narrowed her eyes slightly. "Alright, I get it." She sighed. "Is there anything else you need to talk about?"

He stood up in a flourish. "That is all for now." He turned and bowed. "Thank you, my lovely Haruhi, I will take your words to heart." With that he left her alone.

Well at least he seemed to be back to normal, though she was happy she had been able to help. She knew how much of an emotional mess he could be at times but he meant well. She looked over to see a young girl faint in his arms. Well... most of the time.

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Though she normally didn't use it unless she had to, she found herself looking down at her cell phone sitting on the living room table. Most of the time the host members used it to get a hold of her, she rarely every needed to contact them. She was lucky if she could go more then a day without a single call from the guys.

She picked up the small pink phone and flipped it open, scrolling through her list of contacts. She looked at the two numbers on the center of the small display, one for Hikaru and one for Kaoru. She wondered which one she should call.

Hikaru might still be upset but he was the one she was worried about. He might not want to talk about it though and she didn't want to pressure him. She knew that sometimes his emotions got the better of him but he was getting better. It must have been something important...to have set him off.

Kaoru on the other hand would know what the problem was, so long has he had been able to get through to his brother.

She paused with her finger over the call button. She didn't want to pry...With a sigh she snapped her phone closed and dropped it back onto the table, getting up to make some tea. She decided that she should start her homework for the night as well before it got to late.

She had just put the kettle onto the stove when her phone started to ring. She frowned and went to retrieve it from the other room. She looked at the caller-id before flipping open the small phone. "Sempai?"

"Haruhi! Have you been watching the news?" Tamaki's frantic voice yelled into her ear.

"Sempai, you know I don't watch much TV." She walked back into the kitchen to keep an eye on the kettle.

"But Haruhi! It's important. Don't come to school tomorrow. I'll come over to your place in the morning and we can wait it out there."

"I have no idea what you are talking about." She moved the water off the burner and pulled her cup out from the cupboard.

"The storm! The news said that there is going to be a big storm tomorrow, so you shouldn't come to school. It will be better if you just stay at home."

She paused at the mention of the storm but quickly recovered. "I can't not go to school tomorrow, I have a test. I'll be fine."

She heard the front door open. "Haruhi~ I'm home~" Her father called.

"Tamaki, I have to go, I'll see you at school."

"Haruhi! You can't, the sto-" She flipped her phone closed and when to greet her father.

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It was cloudy the next morning when she woke up. They seemed to grow ever darker as she made her way to the train station. The first few drops started to fall as she entered the school and by the end of her first class it had started to really rain. Haruhi gathered her books and looked out of the classrooms large windows as the raindrops slowly slide down its surface.

Kaoru put a hand on her shoulder. "There is a good chance that there is going to be a lightening storm later, are you going to be ok?"

She looked over at Hikaru, who was also looking out the window, his head turned away from them. He hadn't said much to her or his brother that so far that day. She wondered what was on his mind. Haruhi turned back and gave a small smile to the other twin. "Yeah, I should be fine."

She had been fritting most of the morning over the storm. The consent worry of the first thunderclap had caused her to have a hard time concentrating in class. She had yet to deal with a storm hitting during school. She had been lucky that most had either fallen during the summer months or on weekends and evenings. She cast an eye over the darkening clouds.

Tamaki had indeed shown up at her door that morning. Again insisting that she stay home that day. They would ride out the storm and when the clouds broke and the storm cleared, they would watch the sunset together. His words, not hers.

It wasn't till her father had come out of his room that Tamaki agreed to let her go to school after all. Her father wasn't much of a morning person and seeing as how he liked Tamaki even less, being woken up by Tamaki was… Well he was lucky that her father hadn't killed him. So instead of hiding out at her place for the day, he walked with her to school.

They were heading over to their next class when the first rumbling moved through the school. It stopped her in the hall. Hikaru, not even looking back, took her hand and pulled her along. Kaoru frowned, slipping his arm around her waist.

"Are you sure?" He softly asked for the second time.

She wasn't so sure now, but they had a test and she couldn't missed it. Another rumble reached her, just the front edge of the storm. She could make it. The brothers were with her and other could sit through the storm with no problem. Why couldn't she? Just concentrate on the test. If she just concentrated…

They sat down at their desks. She tried to keep her eyes from the ever-darkening sky and rain. The tests were handed out and she bent her head, pencil in hand as she studied the first question. A flash of lighten brightened the classroom. Then the thunder hit. She jumped, screwing her eyes tightly shut, her hands over here ears. But she could still hear the other student's surprised reactions and the teachers attempt to get them back to work. Another clap of sound hit.

At her second startled yelp, the brothers moved into action, raising from their desks and putting their arms around the frightened girl.

Hikaru looked at his brother. "I got this." He said firmly.

"But, Hikaru…" He looked from Haruhi to his brother. He had never seen him so set. Hikaru wanted to do this on his own. He needed to prove to himself… that he was man enough to love someone. Giving Haruhi's shoulder one last squeeze, he gave his brother a small smile and stepped back.

He nodded to his brother, thankful to him for understanding and started to pull Haruhi to her feet.

Some of the other students looked on with concern. "What's wrong with Haruhi-chan?" – "Is she going to be ok?"

Kaoru watched as his brother lead Haruhi from the room, all but carrying her out. "She doesn't like storms…" He slowly slipped back into his desk but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't concentrate on the test.

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Their classroom was on the far end of the school from the music room, the only place he could think to take her. As the storm moved in, it was getting harder and harder for her to stay on her feet. "Come on Haruhi, it will be ok soon." He urged her on.

Her voice was small. "No… I'm ok…" She tried to pull away from him. "You can-go back…Eeep!" She jumped, covering her ears and crouching down on the floor as a large clap of thunder hit so loud it seemed to shake the very school.

"No, I can't!" He could do this. "Now come here." He slipped his arm under her knees and quickly lifted her up into his arms. He was surprised to feel how light she really was and how easily it was to hold her. She buried her face into the crock of his neck to hide from the storm, it felt safer there. He rested his chin on the top of her head as he carried her, his mind fixed on his task and not the girl in his arms.

Glade for once for the old fashion pull-down handled on the music rooms' doors, he easily slipped into the empty room and kicked the door closed behind them. He reached the prep-room with a few long strides. "Now, I'm going to have to set you down." He slowly righted her to her feet and opened the door. Thunder boomed through the music room and she all but ran inside the small changing room to escape it.

He closed the door behind them and already the harsh sounds of the storm were lessened, the windowless room providing the perfect haven from the bleak weather. He felt something pull on his hand and realized he was still holding onto Haruhi. She was shaking, looking up at him with large frightened eyes. She looked so lost that it almost broke his heart.

The small room had little in it, just a large chair in the corner and a few small curtained areas for changing. He slowly let go of her hand and sighed. "Kyouya is going to kill me for this." He reached up and ripped down one of the curtains and threw it over Haruhi's small shoulders.

She watched him, her eyes following him slowly.

He ranked his fingers through his orange hair. "Ahh… oh yeah." He moved off to the corner of the room where him and his brother kept a change of clothes and a few other items. He pulled a brown gift box out from behind the neat stack of cloths and put it into her trembling hands.

She looked down at the box, her mind drawing a blank. Though she could no longer see signs of the storm, she was still able hear it and it caused her to tremble.

Hikaru ripped another one of the curtains down, and spread it out on the tile floor. He put his hands on her shoulders, giving her a little push to make her sit down and he sat next to her, shuffling close enough so their legs touched. He took the box from her lap and quickly pulled at the red ribbon tying it close. "I wanted to give this to you for your birthday…but I didn't know when it was… and so I've been keeping it here … well it was so my brother wouldn't know too." He pulled off the lid and tilted the box towards her.

She slowly leaned over and looked into the box. Tucked within were a large pair of DJ style headphones and a small purple ipod. She looked back up at him.

He pulled them out of the box. "I already added some music onto it for you… we can go through and add more later. We have lots on our computer at home." He slipped the large headphones over her head. "I'm sorry if the music is not quite to your taste…" He picked up the small purple ipod, turned it on and pressed play.

Just like on their first date, he put an arm across her shoulders and pulled her tightly to his side. She closed her eyes and let the music and his touch drown out all fears of the storm. Hikaru leaned his cheek against her hair, only now becoming aware of their closeness. His heart pumped faster, his hand holding her pulled her a little tighter to him.

He wasn't sure exactly when it had happened, but somewhere along the lines he had fallen in love with Haruhi. He knew now that was what he was feeling. It was different from what he felt for his brother and much stronger then anything he had ever felt towards any of their friends. He wanted to be near her, see her smile and laugh.

With these, came darker emotions that he was having a harder time understanding. He grew angry when he thought about some another man being around her, so much so that he couldn't think straight. He felt like grabbing her and pulling her away. He wanted her to himself and didn't want anyone else to see her smile. He figured this was what it was like to be jealous but it was selfish and wrong and he didn't like it.

He knew that if he asked, his brother would help him. He would help him understand what he was feeling and would help him learn and grow, but he didn't want his brothers help. Not now, not with this. He felt that he needed to learn how to manage his emotions on his own. If he didn't do it on his own, he would never be able to grow up.

The lights blinked off and she gasped, attempting to look around the completely pitch black room. It was so dark that she wasn't even able to see her hands right in front of her face. Panic started to well up within her. Between the storm and the emptiness of the dark room, she felt herself slipping away. Desperately she reached towards where she knew help would be. Her hand found Hikaru's shirt, she tightly closed her fist around the fabric of his blazer. But his warm and gentle hands pried her grip of the clothing, he intertwined his fingers with hers.

She squinted her eyes when the display from the ipod suddenly illuminated. Hikaru carefully held the small item in his hand, its small display casting light on the two. He held it up till he could see her face, making sure she was okay.

She slowly removed the headphones from her heads, letting them hang around her neck. "Hikaru…?"

He looked about, wondering what he should do. He felt the sudden need for his brother. "It's just a blackout… I wonder if the whole school is effected."

She looked down at their hands, still tightly grasped together and slowly let got. She brought her knees up to her chest, hugging them.

He peered at her through the darkness only broken by the small music player. She seemed to be doing better but the storm still raged on. He didn't want to leave her alone but he really felt that he needed to check to see if the entire school was blacked out. After all, if it was just the light in the room, then they might as well find somewhere else to wait out the storm, rather then sit in the dark. "I'm going to check to see if the rest of the school is also out." She just looked at him with wide eyes. "Will you be alright on your own for a bit?"

She nodded. "Yeah… I'll be fine."

He handed her the ipod and moved towards where he knew the door was. Carefully he felt for the handle. Turning it he slipped back into the dark music room, where the noise of the storm seems unusually loud, but he knew that it was only because they had been sitting in silence for so long. He tired the light switch on the wall with no luck. Using the light from the storm, he made his way to the main doors. A quick survey of the hall showed that the school was indeed in a blackout.

His phone rang, causing him to jump. He had forgotten about it with everything that had been happening. He pulled it out and seeing his brother's name, answered it.

"Hikaru! Where did you go? Is everything alright?" His brother asked, obviously worried.

"Yeah, we're fine." He closed the door to the hallway and started to make his way back to the prep-room where Haruhi was waiting.

"How is she doing? Are you alright in the blackout? They are talking about sending the students home…"

"She doing better, though I hope the storm doesn't last long."

He could hear his brother's sigh. "It looks like there might be sometime before the storm passes. We might just want to see about trying to get her home."

"Maybe…"

"Hey, Hikaru?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you. Take care of Haruhi, and I'll let you know if they are sending the student's home early."

"Love you too and I will."

He could feel his brother smiling. "I hope you're feeling better to." The line disconnected and Hikaru looked at the phone thoughtfully. His brother was worried because he hadn't been telling him what was on his mind. Again he was happy to have such a wonderful brother.

Finding the door to the pre-room he entered to find Haruhi in a small ball of glowing light. She removed the headphone from her head again and let them sit around her neck. He could faintly hear the sound of music from the speakers. She looked up at him with questioning eyes, the storm making her usually quite.

He sat down in front of her on the curtain, crossing his legs. "The whole school is out."

"Was… that Kaoru?" She asked, poking at the controls on the ipod when it's screen dimmed.

He nodded. "Yeah, he just wanted to check up on you."

She gave him a small smile. "You mean you."

He rubbed the back of his neck, looking away. "Yeah…"

She didn't press for more. If he still didn't want to tell them what was on his mind, that was okay with her. He would tell them when and if he needed to but from what she could tell, he was working really heard to figure something out for himself. That made her happy, knowing that he was trying to discover things for himself and not always relying on his brother. Their world was still small, but it was growing larger everyday.

"Haruhi… I have been waiting to ask." She looked up at him but he didn't meet her eyes. "Why are you so afraid of thunder?"

She frowned, her eyes falling back to the small music player sitting between them. "I've been scared of it for as long as I can remember… I don't really know why." She hugged her knees a little tighter when a large boom of thunder hit.

"But its weird, being afraid of a noise. It's not like it can hurt you or anything. It's kind of stupid." He flinched at his own tone. He hadn't meant to say it and say it so harshly. He looked at her slowly, hoping he hadn't upset her.

Her eyes were still down, her chin resting on her knees. "No, you're right. It is silly… I know it's only noise… just the sound the lightening makes… going through the air but still, I can't help it." She closed her eyes as another boom rang out. She took a deep breath. "It just does."

He frowned. Not knowing what else to say. He had hoped to find a way to rid her of this fear but it seemed now that all he could do was help her through it.

They didn't speak for some time.

"Thank you…" Her voice was small and light but he was still able to hear it over the low sound of her music and the rushing of the wind and rain outside.

He moved back over to sit next to her again. This time as soon as he lifted his arm, she leaned into his side, taking his offered warmth and comfort.

"Tell me a story…" She asked softly like a small child.

He put his arm around her. "Like what?"

She lowered her head, listening to the sound of the music coming through her headphones, her eyes closed. "Anything is fine." She just wanted something to distract her from the storm.

He thought for a moment. He didn't really have any fun stories to tell. He thought harder. "Well, it's not really a story, but it's all that I can think of right now." So he told her about the time him and his brother had ever been allowed to own a pet and why it had been the last their parent's had ever allowed.

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While they quietly waited out the storm, their club leader was being anything but quite.

"Haruhi!" Tamaki called down the school hall as he rushed by. He turned, coming to a stop. "Kyouya! We have to hurry! We need to find her!"

The dark haired boy watched his friend with annoyance. "It's dangerous to be running around in a blackout, Tamaki."

"But we have to find her!" He insisted.

Kyouya's eye twitched. "So you have been insisting upon for the last hour. I am sure she is fine."

"But she wasn't in her classroom!" The blond prince countered.

"That's because that wasn't her classroom."

"But she's all alone!"

Kyouya crossed his arms. "I'm sure the twins are taking care of her."

"They kidnapped her then!" He screamed in outrage. His poor Haruhi! Frightened and kidnapped by people she thought to be her friends. He had to save her!

The shadow king rubbed his temples slowly, counting to ten while telling himself it would be a very bad idea to kill Tamaki... Even if he really wanted to right now. Why must he be such an idiot!

"Oh, hey boss." Kaoru looked at the club leader with a smile.

Tamaki turned. "Hitachiin twin! Tell me what you have done with Haruhi!"

Kaoru looked over at Kyouya for a moment before looking back at the irate blond. He put his hands on his hips. "Nothing, she's fine."

Tamaki didn't like that answer, not one bit. "Where have you hidden her?! You know she is afraid of thunder! She needs me!"

He narrowed his eyes. "I'm sure you're the last person she would want right now."

Tamaki moved to throw himself at the smaller man and force him to tell him where he was hiding her but Kyouya placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "Tamaki, you need to calm yourself."

His shoulders slumped and he took a single deep breath. "Alright. Alright… So long as she isn't alone then she will be fine."

Kyouya coolly smiled. "Good. Now it seems they have decided to cancel classes for the afternoon, we should be going."

Kaoru pulled his phone out from his pocket, thinking of calling his brother, but he had a pretty good idea where they were.

"Hey, Hitachiin twin!" Tamaki called to him as he moved to walk away. "Where are you going?"

He turned to look back. "I need to go get Hikaru and Haruhi since we are going to be going home." He smirked. "I can't leave them alone in the school all night, can I?" He laughed as he watched the anger rise back up in the blond. He was too easy at times.

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They paused just inside the third music room. Kaoru frowned. "Well, at least I thought they would be here." He sighed and dug his phone out from his pocket to give his brother a call.

"Wait…" Kyouya looked around. "Did you hear that?"

Tamaki frowned. "Hear what? I can barely hear you guys over the rain." He looked around.

"No, I hear it too." Kaoru slowly moved towards the prep-room, the others close behind. "I think they are in here." Slowly he opened the door.

They found them. Haruhi was almost in tears she was laughing so hard. "No! Haha, you guys didn't!" She was bend over in Hikaru's arms, laughing so hard her sides hurt.

"We really did! I can still picture their faces! It was priceless!" He smiled brightly, his arm still around her.

The others looked in from the doorway, more then a little confused. Tamaki gaped at the pair, while Kyouya kept his thoughts to himself. It was Kaoru who broke the silence. "Well look what we have here." The pair jumped, not noticing their friends in the doorway.

Haruhi straightened up and smiled brightly at them. "Hi guys, I didn't hear you come in."

Her smile caused Kaoru to smile also as he knelt down in front of the two. His brother looked away, a faint pink blush on his cheeks. "I thought someone was afraid of thunder?"

Haruhi smiled guiltily. "Well... I am but it was such a funny story that I couldn't help myself."

Kyouya smirked from the doorway. "And what story might that be?" He asked with mild interest.

"They one about their pet dog, Noodles." She answered, still glowing from the laugher.

"Noodles?" Kyouya gave a small, amused chuckle.

Kaoru rounded on his brother. "You didn't!"

Hikaru squirmed a little under his brother's gaze. "It was all I could think of. She wanted me to tell her a story." He answered back lamely.

"But you promised, Hikaru! We weren't ever going to tell anyone about it! We promised." He pouted.

Hikaru was instantly to his feet, his hands on his brother's shoulder. His face ranked with worry. "Kaoru, I'm sorry! I didn't think." He hugged his brother tightly before pulling back. "Maybe we can get her to promise, she wont tell." Hikaru turned to her. "You promise not to tell anyone, right Haruhi?"

Haruhi just stared at the pair. "Uh, Kaoru." She ignored Hikaru. "Those brotherly-love acts don't work on me, remember?"

The twin grinned like a cat. "Maybe not, but it got my brother moving." He laughed, Hikaru sending his brother a glare.

They picked themselves off of the floor and got their things together. Back out in the music room Kyouya looked down at the brown-eyed girl. "Haruhi, I believe you might be cured."

She looked up at him. "What do you mean, Kyouya-sempai?"

"Well, the storm is still very much upon us, yet you seem to be back to your normal self." He watched her closely as a flash of lighten lit the room.

Her large eyes turned to look out the window. He was right. She did feel a lot better. When the next thunder hit she didn't feel the need to run and hide. Hikaru placed a hand on her shoulder as he past. She wasn't sure if it would last, but for now she felt like the storm couldn't touch her. She was safe and she knew she owed that to Hikaru. She would have to thank him later.

Tamaki, almost forgotten by the small group, looked back into the prep-room. "Hey, what happened to the changing room curtains?"

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did you like? I hope you did. If you did you better let me know!! I need to know my efforts aren't wasted... and that you do like all the work im putting into this... So please Review!!!


	5. And it was

**Learn to Fly**  
Chapter 5

**Author's Note**: Sorry for this chapter, really it's a little short but I wanted to save the good stuff for the next chapter. Which might turn out to be quite long. Thanks to those who voted on who they wanted to see win.

* * *

Her father was working late. Her homework and chores all ready done, Haruhi wasn't sure what else to do with her time now. She stuck her head in the fridge and decided to run out to the store before it got too late and dark out. If her father came home and she wasn't there, it would make him worry and she didn't want to worry her dad.

Slipping on her shoes, she grabbed her bag and headed out the door. The shopping mart was a few blocks from their house. She looked up at the soon to be setting sun and figured she had about an hour till it got dark. She should have no time getting back home by then. She smiled to herself, happy to have a peaceful night. Even if, in some small way, she missed the others.

Given that they liked to drive her up the wall and bug her at every spare moment they had but she loved their company. They were her friends and the only reason she even stayed in the Host Club. Her mind wandered to questions of the future. She wondered what Tamaki's plans for the club were. Was he going to call it quits at the end of the school year? Maybe find new members and keep it going? She wasn't sure and she had the feeling that he didn't either.

From Tamaki her mind moved to her best friends, the twins. She had never really had a best friend before, lots of friends but not any that she had preferred to go to before all others. In this way, she loved them more then the other host members. They were always looking out for her, making her smile or laugh. She appreciated their support and their company. Even the hot-tempered Hikaru, though normally lost without his brother, was really starting to mature. She smiled as she remembered the storm that had past by just the other day and how he had taken care of her, telling her a bunch of silly stories from their childhood about various pranks they had pulled on unsuspecting visitors and the wild adventures they had had with their old dog, Noodles. She sometimes didn't know what she would do without those two and she hoped that even after Ouran they would remain good friends.

Though she had a good grasp of the other club members, it was Kyouya who still seemed to surprise her. She thought about the small stuffed tiger cub sitting next to her bed at home. She knew that under that think wall of ice he put up around his heart, there was a sweet and gentle man… one very much afraid of spiders. She giggled to herself at that.

After picking up a few things for tomorrow's dinner, she paid at the counter and started to head home. She was surprised to see how dark it had gotten. "Better hurry home or dad is going to worry."

Unlike most girls, she wasn't worried about walking alone at night. She had walked these streets so often that even in the darkest of nights she could always find her way home. Even the smaller back alleyways didn't worry her.

She turned down a small narrow street that lead behind a large row of department stores. She normally never traveled this way to get back home, as there were often a good bit of traffic from trunks dropping off goods during the day to make it a good shortcut, but in the evenings there was almost no one along the back road, only a few smaller trucks unloading their goods for the day.

She became aware of the sound of footsteps behind her. She had thought she had heard someone turn down the back alley behind her, but she hadn't wanted to look. Now, casting a quick look back over her shoulder, she saw the shadow of a large man following her. She quickly turned back, keeping her eyes in front of her, her mind working to out what to do if he was someone who was after her. He might just be going the same way as her, there was no real way to know if he was indeed following her.

"Hey lady, look out!"

She turned at the warning but was thrown to the ground, the wind getting knocked out of her. There was then a large bang and the sounds of more shouting. She tried to turn get head to see what was happening but found there was something blocking her vision.

The thing above her let out a curse and shifted it's weight, moving off of her.

She blinked large brown eyes up at the mean looking red-hair. "Kasanoda-kun?"

The gang member's eyes were filled with concern. "Fujioka! Are you alright?" He quickly got up, offering her a hand back to her feet.

"I-I think so." She let him pull her back to up onto her feet. So it had been the young Yakuza gang leader that had been following her, he had no doubt seen her left the store and was keeping an eye on her to make sure she was alright.

"I am sooo sorry miss. Are you alright?"

She turned to see a small group of workers had gathered around them. Her eyes turned to a large wheeled shipping bin that had nearly hit her, to the small produce truck parked next to the open shipping bay. A ramp had been set up to allow them to move their shipment into the warehouse door meant for a much larger truck. No doubt they had lost their grip on the large box and it had rolled back down, nearly hitting her before smashing into the brick wall on the far side of the alley.

She turned back to the green eyed young man wearing a baseball cap in front of her. The shadows from the few street lamps cast an odd shadow over the man's face, making it hard for her to make out what he looked like. Haruhi nodded. "Yeah, no harm done, I guess."

Kasanoda growled, grabbing the young man by the front of his shirt and lifting him up. "No harm?! You were very lucky that I just happen to be keeping an eye on Fujioka. Your little mistake nearly got her killed."

The man grabbed at Kasanoda arm as he stood up on the tips of his toes. "She was, very lucky." He agreed.

Kasanoda eyes darkened and almost seemed to burn. The other men took a step back from the young Yakuza. "If you know what's good for you, then you will be very careful from now on."

The man nodded. "That… was my plan." He smiled despite having a hard time breathing.

Haruhi put her small hands on the red-head's arm and almost instantly the fire in his eyes dulled. The other men let out their collective breaths. "It's okay, Kasanoda-kun. No harm was done." She looked over to the bin the other workers were trying to right back up onto its wheels. She gave him her brightest smile. "Thank you."

He dropped the man he was holding and blushed, looking away from the small girl. "Ah-ah, it was no problem… Fujioka."

Looking around she found her grocery bag laying on the ground. Luckily everything was still inside and intact. She picked it back up and looked up at the now dark sky. "I need to get going. Dad is going to worry."

Kasanoda nodded and started to walk next to her. He cast another evil look back at the workers who sank back from him again. He turned his eyes back to Haruhi and they softened. "Fujioka…" He knew he had already asked but he wanted to make sure she was alright. If he hadn't seen her come out of the store just then and hadn't been so worried about her walking alone at night by herself with rival gang members in the area, then he wouldn't have followed her and he wouldn't have been there to save her from getting hurt. He was really thankful at that moment.

She paused then to look up at the taller man. "I think you can call me Haruhi, now, if you like."

He blushed to his roots. "H-H-Haruhi." He said with surprise.

She chuckled lightly at his stutter. "After all, you did save my life. So you can at least all me by my name."

She was so cute, so sweet. And first name bases! His heart beat wildly. No girl ever treated him this nicely before, though the girls are Ouran were nice to him. They did not give him the gentle smile she did. "Haruhi- I was wondering…."

She looked up at him again. "Hmm?" She tilted her head.

He stopped and bowed. "Can-I-carry-your-bag-for-you?"

She looked down at the small shopping bag. "Uh… sure." She held it out for him to take. Kasanoda was a sweet guy, if not a little odd sometimes.

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She never bought lunch at the school's cafeteria. The main reason was simple, the cost. Roast duck in a wine sauce, high-grade cuts of meat and exotic soups. It was like ordering at a five star restaurant. So she made her own lunch and because she preferred to study while eating, she didn't often sit with the others for lunch in the café. Today was an exception.

Tamaki sat next to her at the table, eyeing her boxed lunch. She pretended she didn't notice as she slowly opened it up.

Hunny leaned over the table a little. "Oh~ So what did you bring for lunch today, Haru-chan?" He asked sweetly.

"Mostly last night's leftovers."

"It looks so yummy~" Tamaki whimpered. "I wish Haruhi would make me a box lunch. Even if it is just last night's leftovers… I'm sure she would make it with love." Again she pretended not to hear him.

Hunny frowned after a moment. "But Haru-chan, you didn't pack yourself anything sweet! What are you going to have dessert?"

She laughed lightly. "You can't have dessert after very meal, sempai."

The small blond pouted, his eyes watering. "Why not?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Well, too many sweets are just not good for you, that's why."

Hunny looked over to his larger cousin, his brown eyes still watering. "It that true, Takashi? Should I not be eating sweets so much?"

Mori opened his month then snapped it closed before he could say the first thing that came to mind. He shock his head and put his hand on the blonde's head. "It's okay, so long as you make sure to brush your teeth." He smiled, satisfied with himself for taking Hunny's mood.

Hunny instantly brightened up and returned to eating his lunch.

Haruhi sighed. "That's not what I meant…" A small pudding cup with cut strawberries moved into view above her lunch box. She looked to see Mori nudge it a little more in her direction. He gave her a small smile before returning back to his own meal. Haruhi noticed the empty place on his tray, indicating that it was his dessert he was offering her. She carefully picked up the small dessert. It looked good… "Thank you." She smiled faintly then. Mori just nodded. Just because too many sweets were bad for you didn't mean she didn't want to have anything sweet with her lunch. She just didn't have anything in the house to bring and since there were always lots of cakes at the club, she didn't think about bringing something for lunch.

"Here Haruhi, you can have mine too!" Tamaki set his pudding down next to the one Mori had just given her.

She looked down at it. "But, sempai, there is no way I'm going to be able to finish both of them."

He frowned and then smiled, taking the one Mori had just given her away and setting it onto his tray. "There, now you can just eat mine and I will eat this one." Mori across from him gave him a dark look which the blond paid no mind to.

She reached over and retrieved her pudding cup. "I'd rather have the one Mori-sempai gave me." She set his chocolate pudding cup back in its place.

Tamaki teared. "But… Haruhi~"

The twins set their hands on the prince's shoulder and leaned in to see his face. "Face it boss, she just likes Mori-sempai better." They smirked at his sorrowful expression.

She quickly swallowed her food. "Oh, cut it out you two." Haruhi gave them a stern look but they only smiled.

Kaoru dropped into the open seat next to her while his brother wrapped his arms lightly about her shoulders, resting his chin on the top of her head. "So Haruhi, are you excited about today announcement?" Hikaru asked with interest.

She tilted her head up to look at the twin. "What announcement?" He frowned down at her.

Kaoru mirrored his twin and frowned. "Don't tell us you have forgotten!"

"Okay, then I wont." She took another bite of her food.

Hunny licked his lips, having finished the last of his lunch. "But today is when they announce who will get to go out with you tomorrow, Haru-chan."

She paused. Oh, that was right. Today, Kyouya was going to announce which of the other host club members were going to be going out with her tomorrow on an official date. She looked over at the silent dark man working off his laptop next to Mori.

"That is correct, at the end of today's club activities I will be announcing which of us will be given the chance to go on a official date with our Haruhi." He didn't even look up as he spoke but continued to type. She sometimes wondered how he was able to do that.

Hikaru moved away from Haruhi, moving to sit next to his brother. He wasn't looking forward to the big announcement. The idea of spending a romantic night with her alone and without the interference of the others sounded wonderful and yet scary at the same time. If he was picked, what would they talk about? Where would they be going? What would they be doing? It would be the ideal time to confess to her. He fidgeted at the thought. Maybe that part could wait. He didn't think he would be able to say those words quite yet. What if she turned him down! The pain that filled his heart then made him rethink even wanting to go on the date.

Kaoru studies his brother for some time, watching the flickering of emotions move through his golden eyes. He had a good guess as to what he was thinking about and was sure it was similar to what the others were wondering also. What would they do if their name was called to go out with Haruhi. Each one of them was willing to jump at the chance to spend time with their favorite girl, even if it was in a non-romantic since. There was something about her that drew them all in. He could see it though… the spell that had been cast upon them by their princely leader was starting to fade. Already he couldn't recall off hand the last time he had claimed Haruhi as his precious daughter. He looked over at Tamaki and wondered if he had finally started to figure out his own feelings.

Tamaki, however, was convinced that, as the most handsome of all the host club members and since he was their leader, he was of course going to win. There was no question about it in his mind. He smiled to himself. He wondered where they might be going on their lovely date together. Maybe he should get her some flowers. That was a good thing to do on a date. He wondered if he might even get a good night kiss! His eyes sparkled with his own little daydream.

Kyouya, who had stopped his typing, looked up at his friend. Tamaki was lost in thought again, to which he was sure he knew of what. "You know Tamaki, the last time I checked over the numbers. I do believe you were losing."

His bubble broken, he looked at his friend in dismay. "But how can that be?!" No-no-no-no-no! He had to win! He was handsome and the leader and this whole club was his idea, so why wasn't he going to win the date with Haruhi?

The twins frowned from the other end of the table. "What a second."-"So you know who's winning right now?"

Kyouya slid his glasses back into their correct position. He turned and gave them a calculating smile. "Of course."

Haruhi paused in the middle of enjoying her pudding cup. "Wait a minute." She set the dessert down. "That doesn't seem very fair. You could have cheated."

"It hurts me, Haruhi, that you think so little of me. I do not cheat." He smiled and it wasn't a nice smile. "I've never had the need to. I always get what I want."

The brother's glared. "And what _do_ you want?"

The dark man shrugged and returned back to his work. They weren't going to be getting anymore out of him. He had had his fun.

Haruhi returned to eating what remained of her lunch. "I don't really care who wins."

Hunny kicked his feet a little under the chair. "Why not?"

She set down the now empty pudding cup and started to put away her things. The ending lunch bell was going to be going soon and she preferred to get to class early. "Well, so long as it is with one of you guys. I'll be happy."

Tamaki brow knitted together with a thought he was having a hard time understanding. "But you're suppose to want your favorite to win." He looked over at the brown-eye girl.

She stood up, the twins at her side. "Who said I have an favorite? I'll see you guys at the club." She gave them a small wave and turned away.

Kyouya closed his laptop. "This isn't going like I had hoped it would."

Tamaki leaned his elbow on the table, resting his head in his palm as he watched Haruhi, sandwiched between the brothers, move out into the hall. He turned his violet eyes to his best friend. "What were you hoping would happen?" He asked.

Kyouya rolled his shoulders to get the kinks out. "I had hoped she would be forced into thinking about who she would rather pick but she either doesn't seem to care or is avoiding thinking about it."

"Maybe," Mori spoke up. "She doesn't want to pick favorites, because she likes things how they are now."

Hunny nodded. "I agree with Takashi. Things don't need to change."

Kyouya got to his feet and slipped his laptop into his bag. "But things are changing. I had hoped that out of all of us, that you two would have already come to realized that."

Hunny gave the younger man a sad smile. They knew, he knew, that things were changing. He wondered how much they would change and if they might survive as friends through it. Haruhi's uncertainty was causing the tension to build between the men but he didn't believe she was ignoring the issue. Hunny felt that she didn't even know that the problem existed yet. She was so blind when it came to emotions of love and romance that she didn't even notice she held the hearts of all of them. He frowned to himself. Worse, she probably wouldn't even be able to tell if she, herself, was in love.

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The attendance for the club that afternoon set a whole new record. Kyouya was happily working out that day's profit, thinking to himself that they should do this again, while Renge moved about the room chatting with the girls who had gathered to hear the announcement. The other club members were forced to abandon their tables and move about the crowds, giving smiles and greetings to their clients.

Tamaki was having a field day. He sparkled and smiled, causing the ladies near him to blush and feel faint. He swept a young girl into his arms. "My lovely princess… who did you wish our Queen to give her heart to?"

Her heart fluttered as he tilted her chin so that their lips were almost touching. She barely managed to whisper. "I will never tell…"

Tamaki righted her to her feet, where she swayed a little. He clutched his heart. "Your lovely secrets only drive me to know more!"

Haruhi felt the twins loop their arms around her. She leaned back into their embrace. "Is he…?"

Hikaru laughed lightly. "Yeah, he's trying to find out who they voted for, it would seem."

His brother nodded. "But it's part of the rules that they are not allowed to tell us."

She looked between then. "Really? How do you know?"

They grinned. "Cause we tried too."

She sighed. "Figures."

Renge popped out from the crowed. "Isn't think exciting, Haruhi-chan?" She beamed and didn't even wait for her reply. "All these girls have pooled their fangirl wishes together in hopes of seeing the ultimate couple! Haruhi-chan and her prince! With so many to pick from, all fine choices, poor Princess Haruhi-chan had to look to the people to help her heart decide." Her eyes glittered. "It's like something from a fairytale."

Haruhi frowned. "No it isn't."

"Soon we will be told who will get to go on Haruhi's-Dream-Date!" Renge spun around and winked. "Maybe they might even get a good-night kiss!"

"Isn't that for me to decide?"

"Oh, Haruhi-chan! I can't wait to tell you about my next grand idea for the host club!" With that she moved back out into the crowd.

Her shoulder's slumped. "Why do I even bother? It's not like anyone ever listens to me anyways."

Kaoru have her a squeeze with his arm. "Don't worry Haruhi, we would never make you do anything you didn't want to."

She looked at the softer spoken twin. "What if I didn't want to go on this date?"

Hikaru spoke up from her other side. "But you do want to go, that's why we are still going through with the plan."

She wanted to protest but realized they were right. If she really had been opposed to the idea, then they would have canceled it long ago. Though she was indifferent as to who got to go with her, some small part of her was a little excited about the date.

"Haruhi." Kyouya called from a small clearing in the crowd at the front of the room. The twins gave her a little push in his direction and she moved through the parting group of fangirls to join the shadow king. She turned to face the crowd of students that had gathered. Their faces were full of desire and interest. They had been waiting all week for this and it was finally going to be announced! They worked at continuing their excited squeals.

Renge moved up beside Kyouya, who gave her a small bow before stepping back to join the others who had lined up behind her. "Alright girls, this is it!" The crowed cheered and Haruhi wondered if she might go deaf. "This is the time you have been waiting for all week! Right now we are going to find out who, of our wonderful host club, will be given the chance to have a date with our very own hosting queen, Haruhi-chan!"

Okay, she thought. She didn't want to do this anymore. This was getting a little out of hand. It was just a date for crying out loud.

"But first! I am going to announce where the date will be taking place, as per your votes." She winked to the crowed and pulled a small card out from her shirt. "Some believe that there is nothing more romantic then sitting among the stars with the one you love," There was a sigh of agreement from the crowd. "But how about sitting within your own universe! That's right, Haruhi and her date-to-be will be given after hours access to the National Planetarium where they will be able to gaze upon the beauty and bath in the light of stars that most of us will never be able to see!" The girls cheered. "Just them, alone, among the stars~"

Haruhi looked over at the lady manager then. "A date to a planetarium?" She frowned. That didn't sound like a very good place for a date… wasn't this suppose to be romantic or something? Maybe a dinner or something simple? It sounded more like a fieldtrip to her.

"And now! I will announce who has been chosen to be Haruhi-chan's date!" Renge smiled and turned to her then, holding up a small piece of cloth.

"Ah… what are you doing?"

She just smiled more. "I'm going to be blind folding you, silly. We'll get a better reaction this way." She slipped the cloth over her eyes and turned her.

Haruhi tried not to frown. She could easily hear the crowd of onlookers trying to quite down, although she didn't know where she was facing.

Renge's voice reached her, she seemed to be a little farther away and not right next to her anymore. "I want all of you to be quite, you can't say a word. When I tell you to, the one I have picked will have to take Haruhi-chan's blindfold off. Got it?" She heard a chorus of agreements from the guys. "Good! Now well you come with me…" The crowd broke out into a mass of excited whispers and hushes as they tried to contain themselves. Renge sounded much closer now. "Okay, now." She whispered and Haruhi felt someone step in front of her a moment before she felt a set of hands untying the knot from her blindfold. Her heart fluttered for a moment, she wondered who it would be.

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So who is it?! WHO! Haha, oh I know, cause I'm already writing the next chapter, but you're going to have to wait. If you didn't vote before, it's too late to change the winner. However if you would still like to tell me what your favorite pair is, go for it!

**Please Review!!! Cause I work faster when I get reviews ^-^  
**


	6. Not the First, Not the Last

**Learn to Fly**  
Chapter 6

**Author's Note**: Here we are, the date! The whole voting thing based on reviews didn't go so well since there were so few votes but maybe I'll try this again farther along in the story.

* * *

His large hands skillfully untied the knot from her blindfold, removing it quickly. She instantly looked up with wide eyes. "Mori-sempai!" The girls all around cheered.

Mori gave her a small smile, not sure what else to do. He hadn't been excepting to be chosen. Though he had thought about it, he had just assumed that it would be someone else.

Renge cheered. "Congratulations, Mori-sempai! You and Haruhi will be enjoying a wonderful night under the stars together tomorrow night. Don't be late~!" She laughed and suddenly disappeared into the crowd. Many of the other students moved around the pair, wishing them the best on their date and making Haruhi promise to tell them everything later. Then as quickly as the whole ordeal started, it was over and no one remained but the host club themselves.

She was still looking up at Mori, her brown eyes a little unsure. She wasn't sure who she had been expecting, but she wasn't sure if it had been him.

The twins came up and clapped the bigger man on the back. "Congrats there Mori-sempai!" Kaoru gave the big man a smile. Hunny jumped around, also excited for his cousin. Even Tamaki congratulated him on his luck for winning a date with Haruhi, unusually calm about not being picked.

Hikaru, however, wasn't taking the news too well. "I'll talk to you later, Haruhi." Was all he said as he left the room. The door slamming behind him.

"Hikaru!" His brother called after him, then cursed. The twin turned back to his friends and gave them an apologetic smile. "Sorry guys, I'll see you around." He gave Haruhi a little wink. "I'll be talking to you later though, give me a call if you need me!" He ran quickly after his brother, hoping that he hadn't gotten too far ahead.

Haruhi frowned. Hikaru was upset, that was easy to see. He was probably disappointed about not winning the vote. She knew that the brothers always loved to spend time with her and they must have been looking forward to the chance of the outing.

Kyouya crossed his arms. "I wouldn't worry about him. He will get over it."

She looked at him, then back at the doors and sighed. "Now what do we do?"

He smirked. "Why, you just have to be ready for seven tomorrow night."

She looked back up at Mori then. The tall man nodded. "I will be at your place at seven." After a moments thought he added. "You don't need to dress up… wear whatever you feel comfortable in."

She smiled, thankful for that.

Tamaki however, was outraged. "But the whole idea of a date is getting to see Haruhi all cute like! What other chances would we get to see her like that? Oh to see her in a cute dress~ or maybe a skirt~" His eyes started to glitter as he thought about her in various outfits.

Mori looked at the prince with level eyes. "She doesn't need to dress up to be cute."

Tamaki snapped out of his daydream to look at the taller senior.

Haruhi was also slightly taken aback. Her eyes searched Mori's perfect mask for any hints as to what he was thinking. Was he angry with Tamaki for something? It was odd to hear him speaking back. Even Hunny was looking up surprisingly at his cousin.

Kyouya pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "Regardless, I hope you two have fun." He gave them a small wave over his shoulder as he left.

Haruhi looked down at her watch. "Oh, shoot. I need to get going." She gave the remaining three hosts a large smile. "Need to get dinner ready for dad." She turned to Mori. "I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow then, Mori-sempai."

"Bye, Haru-chan~!" Hunny called after her as she left the music room.

"Haruhi." Tamaki came up beside her in the hall. "Would you like a ride?" He offered with a smile.

She shook her head. "No thanks, sempai. I'm going to be head to the store before I go home. I need to pick up a few things before dinner."

"Oh…" He looked ahead of them with a small frown. Then brightened up again. "I could come to the-"

Haruhi stopped and looked down at her hands. "Ahhh…I forgot my bag. I'll see you later sempai!" She quickly turned on her heels and ran back towards the 3rd music room, leaving a slightly stunned and hurt Tamaki behind. His shoulders slumped down as he turned to continued on his way home.

Haruhi paused with her hand on the handle hearing Mori and Hunny's voice from the other side of the door.

"Aren't you excited, Takashi?"

"Yeah…"

"That's good. I hope you two have a good time."

"Do you think she will… have a good time, Mitsukuni?"

"I have no doubt!"

She could hear them walking towards the door. Quickly, she looked around for some place to hide but the doors opened. She turned slowly to see the two senior members standing in the doorway.

They both blinked at her, surprised to find her standing just outside of the music room. "Did you need to talk with us, Haru-chan?" Hunny tilted his head as he looked up at her.

"Ah, no, just forgot my bag." She quickly sidestepped the two confused men and darted back into the clubroom. She found her bag where she had left it in the prep-room and exited the music room to find the two seniors waiting for her.

Hunny gave her a big smile. "Would you like a ride home, Haru-chan?"

She shook her head. "No thanks." The small blond nodded and together they walked down the hall with her.

Haruhi looked at Mori from the corner of her eye. She wondered what their date would be like. Other then that one time in Kyouya's indoor tropical park when they had last track of Hunny, her and Mori had never spent much together. She realized that there was so much that she didn't know about him. She supposed the date would be a great opportunity to learn more about her silent friend. Haruhi suddenly felt excited about the whole date idea.

Mori, walking next to her, felt her sudden shift in mood. He looked down at the small brunette. He wondered how their date would go and worried that she would not enjoy herself but he pushed it out of his mind. No point in worrying about it right now, he would just have to see how things went.

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There was a knock on her door promptly at seven that next evening. She fidgeted with her simple summer dress and was thankful that her dad, having had to work late, still had no idea that she was going out tonight. Much less on a date. If her dad had known then he would have made sure to stay home in order to fond over how she looked so cute in the soft pink dress she had decided to wear or how that clip in her hair brought out the colour in her cheeks. Or how much she looked like her mother did when she had been her age. She always hated that. She looked over herself again in the mirror and thought how much Tamaki would have loved to see her in this outfit; it had probably been why Kaoru had been so insistent that she wear it.

She made her way to the door and opened it. Mori looked down at her with a soft smile in greeting. He was dressed in a simple brown jacket over a dark blue shirt with jeans. She smiled up at him. "Let me just grab my coat." He nodded and she slipped back into the house. It was going to be a warm enough evening but there was still a chance that it would get cooler as the night went on and she didn't want to have to worry about being cold.

She joined back up with Mori outside her apartment and made sure to lock the door behind her. Haruhi looked down at the street but only saw a small dark green car packed next to her building. She looked pointedly at Mori who only walked past her and down the stairs. She heard the beep of the car unlocking and Mori opened the passenger door for her. She looked up at him a little surprised but got in. He carefully closed the door and moved around to the driver's side.

Getting in, he put the keys into the ignition and started the car. Mori took the car out of park and checking the street before pulling back out onto the road. She looked around the car in slightly amazement. "I didn't know you could drive." Mori nodded, keeping his eyes on the road.

They sat in a comfortable silence as he drove. Haruhi looked out the window at the passing scenery. It felt nice being in a somewhat normal vehicle and not in a limo for once. Given it was still a very nice car, she at least didn't feel like everyone was looking at her. When she looked out of the window while in the limo, everyone was always looking back. With Mori, they all continued to go about their day and paid the passing car no attention. She wondered if any of the others could drive.

It didn't take them long to reach their destination. Mori pulled into the close to empty parking lot of the museum. They parked close to the building and Haruhi got out of the car as soon as the car was stopped. She had never been to the national museum before, it was so big. The setting sun shone off its large glass windows and it drew her attention to large dome roof on the one side of the building, which housed the planetarium.

Mori locked the car and walked up beside her. He watched her in the setting light as she took in the sight of the building. He took that moment to look her over. She had left her coat in the car and now stood in her nice cute dress. The wind lightly pulled at her skirt and he become aware of her simple beauty. She turned to him with a smile and he led them towards the front door.

There was a museum employee waiting for them at the door. "Welcome." He bowed to them as he opened the door. Haruhi thanked him as she stepped in. The man followed in behind them. "Everything has been left open, as per your request, Mr. Morinozuka." Mori nodded while Haruhi looked around with interest. There were many images of star systems and planets. Her eyes turned up towards the ceiling to see a small model of the solar system. The man behind them continued. "There are a few employees around if you need help but we will leave you to yourselves." He bowed again and left.

They stopped before a large set of doors and she reached to push them open but Mori beat her to it. He swung the door in to reveal a deep dark room. She slowly stepped into the room, looking around as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Haruhi eyes looked up towards the domed roof. "Woah…"

Stars glittered all over the roof. They twinkled and blinked at her. Her large brown eyes tracked a shooting star. It may not have been the real thing but it was stunning nonetheless.

Again Mori watched her, the stars of little interest next to his date. He reluctantly took his eyes from her and looked round the dark round room. There were rows of large high backed chair that circled around the room, at the center was the large projector that shone the lights up into the domed roof.

"Sempai, lets sit over here." Haruhi moved to a set of seats near the back of the room. She sat down and leaned the chair all the way back.

Mori smiled and took his seat next to her, leaning back. He folded his hands across his chest as he looked up at the stars. After a moment he found his eyes falling back onto the girl next to him.

"I've never been here before. This is a lot cooler then I thought it would be." She glanced at him and then back up at the stars. They shifted and she suddenly felt like she was plunging through space as planets and star systems flew by. She had been a little leery about coming to a planetarium for a date, but she could see why some might think it was a nice idea.

Then the deep voice of the announcer rolled over them. "Billions of stars and Billions of planets fill what we think is an empty void of space..."

Or not... Haruhi sighed. This wasn't going to work… She wondered if they could turn the voice off.

Mori too frowned when the voice came over the speakers throughout the room. That wouldn't do. He looked over to see a small frown on Haruhi's lips as well. He touched her hand to get her attention as he rose from his seat to find someone who could turn off the announcer.

She nodded and watched him fade into darkness as she turned her attention back onto the stars above her now showing the milky-way. The voice went on.

"The stellar disk of the Milky Way galaxy is approximately 100,000 light-years in diameter..."

She thought that was kind of cool, she hadn't known that. She shook herself. No, this wasn't school. She looked around and noticed a bean of light coming in from the back door which sat open a crack from where Mori had gone out. He hadn't been gone long but she wanted to see if he had been able to find anyone. Raising from her seat and pushing open the door she was blinded by the faint light of the hallway. She blinked to get her eyes to adjust. A shadow fell over her. Haruhi looked up. "Did you find anyone, sempai?"

He shook his head and turned down the hall. "Come."

She looked back into the dark room a moment wondering where they could find someone around at this hour to help them. "Ah... alright." She lengthened her stride to catch back up with him.

He was mad. This wasn't going right at all. Even he had thought this was an odd place for a date. He would have never picked it himself if he had been given a choice, but it had been part of the rules for the date that they would have to go to where ever they were voted to go.

"Um... Mori-sempai, where are we going?" She asked as they moved towards the entrance with a little concern.

"Leaving." He answered back simple. They may have had to come here but there was nothing keeping them here. They could just as easily leave and continue their date elsewhere.

Haruhi felt a little chest-fallen. Given this wasn't going to work for a date but she was a little hurt that it was just going to be over. Her steps slowed a little.

Noticing her absence from his side he stopped and looked back at her.

"You know, just cause this place isn't working, doesn't mean we have to go home."

He just looked at her, thinking that had been his plan.

She looked right back at him and thought that she had no idea what he was thinking. Feeling slightly bashful, she looked away from his eyes and started to move towards the door. "There is a nice park, if I remember correctly, that's suppose to be around here." She suggested while reaching for the door.

Again Mori's larger hand reached past her and opened the door. He held it while she stepped back out into the sweet evening air. The night was turning out to be a warm one, if not a little muggy. Not bad for late spring. She looked up at the dark sky and felt a little sad not to be able to see any stars but with so much light pollution from surrounding city, she felt that she was lucky to even know it was night out.

Mori watched her. He loved to just look at her. She brushed some hair from her eyes as she wind lightly blew over them and he thought how nice she looked with her hair a little longer.

She glanced over him only to notice his gaze. She turned her eyes back towards the city as she moved towards the car, a little disappointed that their evening was now over.

Mori however had turned. He too remember that there was a park next to the national museum, though he had never gotten a chance to walk through it. He thought back to when he had come here a few years back. If he was correct, it was just on the other side of the building and there should be a sidewalk that lead over to it from the other end of the parking lot.

Haruhi stood next to his car, waiting for it to open. After a moment she looked back at her date. "Sempai?" He was now talking across the parking lot. She frowned but ran a little to meet back up with him as he moved towards the pathway. "Where are we going?"

"The park."

"Oh." She smiled then, happy that they weren't going to be going home just yet.

The path was just where he had remembered it to be. The path cut through the lawn of the museum, shaded during the day but small trees. As they rounded the bend they were able to see the full park. It was thick with trees. Haruhi moved ahead of her date, looking around. Patched of flowers and plants grew around small rock gardens. She could hear the sound of water and a few birds over the sounds of distant traffic. Even the evening chirp of crickets could be heard. It seems like a small oasis in the middle of the urban jungle.

They moved deeper into the park. Mori knew that it sat in the middle of several buildings all belonging to the museum, so there would be few people around at this hour. He watched her with interest as she looked around. She tilted her head back. "Star!" Real ones this time. She preferred their small light to the fake ones any day.

They came up to a bridge that crossed a small creek. She leaned over the railing, looking down at the shadows in the water that she was sure were fish. She thought it was a little odd to have fish in a man-made river but what did she know.

Mori leaned his back against the railing and tilted his head back, looking up into the night sky. If he had to take her to see the stars, he would have found a peaceful place like this.

"Say, sempai... thank you."

He looked down at the smaller girl, waiting for her to continue.

She kept watching the water. "I didn't want to go home, I had been looking forward to this."

She had? His mind thought that over but he didn't allow himself to consider the fact that she maybe had feelings for him. He was sure that wasn't the case.

"We don't spend a lot of time together, do we?" She rested her elbows on the rail and leaned her chin in her hands. "Other then with the others, we never talk."

No, they didn't spend a lot of time together. He always stayed at his cousin's side and so, unless Mitsukuni wanted to visit, then he never came by. He and his cousin also both understood just how much she enjoyed the time she had away from the host club, so they never wanted to disturb her outside of school.

"I've realized that I know so little about you. Like... what's your favorite colour?" A fish jumped from the water.

"Green."

She looked up at him then and blinked, surprised that he had answered. "Green?"

He nodded.

She thought to his car, which was green. So Mori liked green. It was a start. Haruhi smiled and leaned her back against the railing, looking up into the trees. "How about your family?" She tired.

"What about them?"

"I don't even know if you have any siblings. How are your mother and father? How did they meet?" There was so much she didn't know.

He nodded as he thought over her questions. Standing, he slowly walked down the path. Haruhi followed. They soon came upon a bench and Mori, folded his large frame, sat down. Haruhi, careful of her dress, sat beside him. He watched the wind play with the leaves in the trees. "I have no siblings. My mother wasn't able to have any more children."

Haruhi looked at his face, it always seemed to look the same. Only sometimes was it broken with a smile or frown. "So... she couldn't have anymore kids?"

He shook his head. "No but she is a very gentle and quite woman."

Haruhi could see that. Mori himself was the same, he was always kind and gentle and more then willing to help if he could. He didn't feel the need to talk. She liked that in him. "You really love your mother, don't you?"

He nodded, his face softening. "She, more then my father, raised me."

"Why was that?"

He looked over at her, curious about her interest in him. "He was busy with work. He only had time to train me."

"So he trained you in Kendo? Then he must have been very good."

Mori nodded and looking back at the trees.

She looked down at her feet. "You and Hunny are really close aren't you. Even for cousins. It's kind of like you seem him as a little brother."

Mori thought about it and nodded. "We were almost raised together." He looked down at her. "So I believe I do, but he is also my best friend."

She smiled. "I think it's sweet really, that you two have each other. I sometimes have wished I had someone like that."

"You do." He said simple.

She shook her head. "No, you are all my friends, but I don't think I could ever tell you everything…"

"Hm..."

She folded her hands in her lap. "What are your plans for the future? I know that Hunny said you were going to both go to work for your fathers, but what do you want to do?"

He lowered his head and thought about that one. He had never really thought about it. "Where Mitsukuni goes, so will I." Which was true, he had plans to always follow his cousin.

Haruhi shook her head. "Even I know that Hunny would want you to live your own life and be happy to, sempai."

He wanted to protest but he knew she was right. Mitsukuni would easily do everything he could to make sure that he was happy, just as he would do anything to insure his cousin's happiness.

"What I was asking, was what do you want out of life?"

What did he want out of life? Again not something he had put a lot of thought into. His brown furrowed. "What I..." What did he want... "A family."

Haruhi smiled at him with a nod, letting him know that was a good one. "I could see you being a wonderful dad." She said innocently.

He looked away and hoped that she couldn't see the slight colour on his cheeks. He couldn't stop the thought that she too would be a great parent one day.

She let the peaceful silence fall between them as she thought over his answers and worked on her next question. She now knew he liked the colour green, that he really loved his mother who raised him and while although not around often, his father had trained him to be a powerful fighter and that he kind of saw Hunny as a younger brother, which was cute. She said the next thing that came to mind. "Do you like pets?"

"Cats."

She tilted her head. "Really...? Well I guess that makes since."

He looked at her. "Hmm?"

"Well..." She got up and stretched. "If you think about it. You seem to like things that are peaceful and quite. So I think a dog might be to much hassle for you, but cats are good company and they wouldn't want as much attention."

He nodded. She was trying to learn more about him. That made him happy. Through the club they knew lots about Haruhi, about her father, her likes and dislikes and even her fears but he was aware that they kept most of their lives from her. It didn't seem fair to demand no secrets from her but they themselves hid theirs. "You should meet my mother. I think she would like you."

She turned. "Really?" Haruhi was surprised by the offer. None of the other hosts had yet to introduce her to their families. Not that she really wanted to but even so.

He nodded, looking at the brown-eyes girl in front of him. He loved the way she looked at that moment with her hair and dress moving about lightly and the large wide look in her eyes. Even the pucker of her lips. He wished that this date was for real and not an arrangement. If it had been real then he would have been assured that she had some romantic interest in him, but as of right now... he didn't notice any difference between how she treated the others and himself. He moved the thought from his mind. "The others have and I believe she would like you."

She smiled brightly then. "I'd love to."

There was the sound of voices moving up along the path. Haruhi casually turned to see another young couple come around the bend and into view. The girl had her arms about the man's waist and was looking up at him with a smile and blush on her cheeks. They laughed lightly together and he leaned down and kissed her. Haruhi looked away from them as they passed and felt her cheeks flush a little at seeing the intimate moment.

The wind blew a little more and she shivered, wishing she had her coat from the car. It seemed to be getting cooler then she thought it might. Haruhi also wondered briefly what time it was.

It didn't go unnoticed however, Mori stood up and shrugged off his long brown jacket. "Here." He held it open for her.

She frowned lightly. "You didn't have to... my coats just in the car. I don't want you to be cold either."

"I know." He continued to hold the jacket out to her.

She sighed and slipped her arms into the warm jacket, pulling it closed. She was instantly wrapped in Mori's warmth and smell. It seemed different from the others, he smells more of spice and heat. She looked up at him to find Mori watching her. Slowly he started to walk back down the path back towards the parking lot. She followed beside him.

At the small creek again, Mori suddenly stepped in front of her. She all but bumped into his board back. She moved to walk around him but he put out his arm. "Sempai, what's going-" She started to ask but she heard the low rumbling growl before she saw the dog standing on the bridge. Peeking around Mori's side, she could see the hair raised on it's back, its teeth were bared. The dog's coat looked dark and dirty even in the poor light. It must be a stray... and a very angry one. The dog opened it's mouth more, growling louder as drool dripped from it's jaw.

"Haruhi." His voice was low and firm. He wanted her to stay back and follow his lead. Running away wasn't going to work. With her hands on his back, she could feel him tense. Mori slowly moved his foot back and pushed back into her hands. Together they slowly took a step away from the angry beast, they needed to put as much room between themselves and it as possible.

It crouched down as soon as they started to move and lunged for Mori, teeth snapping. Haruhi let out a small scream as Mori quickly swiped it away with his arm. The dog landed in the bushes to their right but was quickly back onto it's feet.

Mori reach a hand back to make sure she was still there. This wasn't going to be easy. He didn't want to hurt the dog but it didn't seem like he was going to be able to scare it off either. He tracked the animal as it slowly moved back onto the path, their backs were now to the bridge. He felt Haruhi's hands clenched in the back of his shirt. "Go to the car."

"What?!" She whispered quickly back. She couldn't leave him to fight the dog on his own. What if he needed help? She looked behind her to see the bridge. Mori stood firmly between the rabid dog and her. She didn't get much time to think as the dog jumped again. Mori cursed, shoving her back as he was knocked down, the dog landed snarling on top of him. It snapped its teeth at his face as he held firmly onto the fur around its neck. He cursed to himself again, he couldn't just throw the dog off, it would move then lightly jump at Haruhi next.

Haruhi stumbled back as the dog pinned Mori to the ground. Quickly she looked around for something to help. Finding a fist sized rock, she quickly threw it at the beast. The dog's head snapped up and in a second jumped towards her.

Haruhi threw up her arms to fend off the attack but it didn't come. The dog yelped as it crashed down in front of its intended target. Mori had a tight hold of its back leg. It growled and turned to snap at him but he was quickly to his feet. With a mighty swing he threw the dog back down the path. It landed awkwardly and with a painful yelp.

However the dog slowly got back up onto its paws. It whimpered as it tired to stand on the back leg Mori had grabbed. It gave them one last low growl and limped off into the bushes. Taking her hand, Mori turned and quickly started down the path towards his car. He didn't feel it would be safe till they were out of the park. Haruhi felt the same.

He unlocked the car as the moved towards it. Quickly opening the doors and getting in, they both let out a long breath of air. Haruhi closed her eyes and rested her head back against the seat as she tried to calm her racing heart. She could hear Mori dialing a number into his cell phone, she wondered who he was calling till she heard him reporting about the stray in the park. She let her hand reach for his arm. "Thank-" She quickly opened her eyes and looked at her fingers stained dark in the minimal light of the parking lots lights. She looked down at his arm. "You're bleeding!"

He snapped the phone closed and lifted his arm to get a better look at it. He turned on the overhead lights in the car and wasn't too surprised to see the large scratch on his arm. He was lucky that was all he had. Fighting a dog was not the same as fighting off another person. He never wanted to hurt the animal.

"We need to get that looked after." She looked around the car but finding nothing to stop the bleeding, she opened up the coat she was wearing and grabbed hold of the edge of her skirt. Her dad was going to kill her later. With a quick tug, she ripped a large strip off the bottom of the hem. "This will work for now." She whipped at the blood running down his arm with the ripped cloth, then taking another piece from her dress, tightly wrapped the wound.

Mori looked down at his arm, which even with the makeshift bandage, looked bad. His eyes saw her hands, now dirty with blood. He sighed and reached into the back of the car where he remembered leaving a small bottle of water.

Haruhi watched as he got out of the car and holding his arm out away from himself, poured a little of the water onto it, quickly cleaning off some the remaining blood on his skin. He then walked around the car and opened her door. "Here." He held the bottle out and waited.

She looked at him for a moment then noticed her hands. She looked at the drying blood and was happy she wasn't the type of person who was faint at the sight of it. What would her dad think if she came home with blood on her hands? She giggles, he would think she finally snapped and killed someone.

His eyes looked at her questioningly as she lightly giggled, but didn't ask. When she held her hands out, he slowly poured some water onto them and let her wash his blood from them. The bottle now empty, he crushed and threw it into the backseat of his car as he got back into the drivers seat again.

Haruhi looked down at his arm. "Are you sure your alright? Maybe we should go to the hospital."

He shook his head and placed his hand on her head. Her eyes were still so full of concern, he found it sweet. "I'm fine."

She frowned then. "If you say so but it looks very bad to me."

"It's not." He turned the keys in the ignition and started the car. The radio turned on, playing a soft rock song that had been a top hit for some time. Slowing pulling out onto the road, he headed in the direction of Haruhi's house.

She looked at him as he drove, his face a mask, hiding any thoughts that he might be having. She looked down at her hands in her lap and pulled lightly at her now much shorter skirt. She sighed. Things hadn't quite gone as she had planned. First the whole planetarium idea, which might have been nice with a little more forethought and then the park, which had been ruined by a dog attack. Of all things.

But... She looked over at Mori again. It hadn't been all that bad. She did enjoy their talk and she now knew more about him then she did before. It was a start. "Maybe we should try this again another time."

His dark eyes flicked from the road over to the girl sitting next to him now looking out of her side window. She wanted to go on another date? "Ah." He nodded with a light smile, happy for the chance to make it up to her. "No dogs this time."

She laughed. "A joke?" She giggled. "I don't think I've ever heard you make a joke before, sempai."

"Mori."

"Huh?" She titled her head.

He carefully changed lanes and turned right at the set of lights. "We aren't at school."

She blushed lightly. "I know that, but it just..." She sighed. "Just habit I guess." She watched him a moment longer. "But I will try."

He nodded and pulled the car up to her apartment building. He turned off the engine and got out, walking around to open her door. She thanked him and got out of the car, making sure to grab her coat from the backseat.

Mori felt the heat rush to his face as she noticed just how much she had ripped from her dress. Carefully he grabbed the edges of his jacket that she was wearing and closed them.

She frowned, taking hold of the coat herself. "...Mori?" She watched the taller man step back then looked down at his coat. She opened it again slightly and she too noticed the length of her skirt. She quickly closed it again. "If you want to come up for a moment, I can give your jacket back." Her dad was going to have a fit. She prayed that he was asleep.

He nodded and followed her towards the stairs. She had just stepped onto the first step when she stopped. Mori still on the ground, did also. She turned. "I just wanted to thank you again. Even with the whole dog attack thing," Her eyes moved to his arm. The makeshift bandage was already soaked through but it seemed to have stopped the worse of the bleeding. "I still did enjoy our time together." Quickly she paced her hands on his shoulders and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. She ran the rest of the way up the steps.

Mori blinked, his legs moving on their own to follow while his head and heart raced. He hid all his thoughts behind his cool mask when she turned to him again. "You're going to need to wait here. I don't want to wake up my dad." She slipped in through the half open door.

He leaned his back against the cool wall. He could hear her inside talking with her father. He frowned at the sound of his harsh tones. Mori assumed she was in trouble of some kind with her father. He looked down at his watch to find it nearing eleven. It wasn't that late but he guess her father had been worried.

He slowly touched his cheek and promised himself that the next date would be better. He looked at the bandage on his arm, also thinking he would get it looked at before heading home. He didn't need Haruhi to worry. He frowned, hoping he didn't need stitches but looked up then when Haruhi stepped back out with his coat in her arms.

She handed it to him. "Thanks for tonight, I'll see you later." He heard her dad call back to her from inside and giving him an apologetic smile, she went back in.

Her father frowned at her when she walked back into the living room. "I can't believe you didn't tell me!"

She didn't say anything as she moved into the bathroom to get ready for bed. She could hear her after from the other side of the door. "To think you want your father to worry."

She sighed and opened the door back up. "Dad, you know that's not it. I just didn't want you to make a big deal out of it. That's all."

Her after huffed. "I think I have the right to know when my little girl stay outs all night with a boy."

Haruhi asked as eyebrow at her dad. "It was hardly all night and it wasn't like it was a stranger."

Ranka frowned. "Even so."

She shook her head and smiled, leaning in she gave her after a big hug. "Love you dad, I'll see you in the morning."

He too smiled. "How can I stay mad at night." He gave her a big squeeze and a kiss on the forehead. "Love you to. Now get some sleep! I'm going to want to know all about your first date in the morning."

She laughed. "That wasn't my first date, dad."

"What?!"

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I'm not really sure how much I like this chapter... I found that I have a very hard time writing it. It took me most of the week just to finish and today alone I almost finished writing the next chapter. So maybe it was just the pairing? I'm not sure haha, let me know what you think!

Oh, and ive mentioned this before. I know there are mistakes. Even if I read through it before posting there are always mistakes that get through. I do this for fun and don't want to deal with a beta reader. It also slows down how soon I can post chapters. So I just don't want to do it. ^-^;; you really, you don't need to tell me haha i know they are there.


	7. The New Rival

**Learn to Fly**  
Chapter 7

**Authors Note**: A few people have mentioned how Mori talks to much in some of the earlier chapters. I really don't feel that he does. Just watch ep 18 "Chika's "Down with Honey" Declaration!". Mori has a whole bunch of lines. The way I see Mori is that he just doesn't feel the need to talk, hunny talks for him most of the time but he does respond to direct questions. Also like everyone he will want his say in things when it is important to him, it might not be a lot but Mori is not a mute that can only grunt "ah" to everything.

* * *

On her way to the bathroom in the morning she was slightly surprised to see her dad already awake and sitting at their living room table. "Morning dad." He just grunted in response. He was not a morning person. "What are you doing so up so early?"

He looked up from his tea and picked a long thin package up off the floor next to him, placing it on the table. "Damn package man, first thing this morning." He yawned. "It's for you."

She frowned. "For me?" She sat down across from her father and slid the package closer. It was indeed addressed to her. She unwrapped the box and carefully lifted the lid. Inside sat a note. She picked up and read over it.

"_To replace the one that was ruined._" Signed Mori.

Her father leaned over to get a better look. "What is it?"

She pulled the neatly folded dress from the small box. "It's a dress."

"A dress?" Her dad jumped up and snatched the garment from her hands, holding it up. This one was a halter dress. It was a soft pastel green with white flowers painted around its skirt. "Oh~ How cute." Her father smiled widely at the dress then looked down at his daughter. "You should wear it today!"

"But I'm just going out to the market today." She protested, getting up to head to the bathroom.

"But it's so cute~ And it was a gift, so you should wear it!" He held it out to her.

She took the dress from his hands. "Fine, but only cause I hadn't decided what to wear yet."

Her father beamed as he waited for his daughter to back out of the bathroom in her new summer dress.

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The market that Sunday had been transformed into a street wide flea market. Many shops had setup all small booths or carts along the road, that had been closed down for the day. People moved around the street from one vender to another. She smiled happily to herself. She loved the flea market. Not only would she be able to find great deals on produce, she also enjoyed looking at the many handmade crafts that were on sale.

Haruhi thought about what she wanted to make for dinner that night. She didn't have much homework to finish that weekend so maybe she could do a little baking. It had been a while since she had made cookies. She knew her dad would love to take some to work with him.

She slowly walked past an old lady selling handmade stuffed animals. Haruhi smiled as she looked at the cute little dolls.

"I take requests too, if you don't see the animal you're looking for." The lady smiled up at her.

Haruhi smiled back. "No thanks. I was just looking. They are very good though." The lady bowed her head in thanks and Haruhi moved onto the next stall. She browsed over the heads of lettuce and bunches of carrots they had on sale for a very nice price. She had thought about making a nice soup later in the week, so maybe she should pick some carrots up just incase. She would always make something else and the carrots would keep till then. She bought a bunch put them into her shopping bag.

She saw a stand full of red fruits across the street and wondered if they might have any nice strawberries. They would be in season right now, so it was a good time to get some. Moving through the crowds she zones in the juicy red fruits. She licked her lips. They looked so ripe and red. Maybe she should make a strawberry shortcake or something. She decided to buy a carton.

"Here you go."

She thanked the vender as he handed her a bag and frowned at the weight of the small page. She opened it up and noticed a second carton of strawberries. She looked up. "Excuse me, you gave me an extra carton. I only paid for one."

After helping the lady next to her, the young man turned back with a bright smile. "Nope. No mistake."

She frowned again, looking back down at her bag. "But I-"

"It was Fujioka, right?"

"Huh?"

He smiled, his green eyes shinning with mischief. "It's the least I could do. You seem to really like those strawberries from the way you were drooling over them and I still kind of feel bad for nearly hitting you with the cart the other night." He rubbed the back of his neck. "So really, take them."

Her eyes widened as she remembered the night when Kasanoda had walked her home from the store.

It had been dark and she hadn't been able to get a good look at this face that night but now in the daylight she had no problem seeing. Her eyes widened a little. He was handsome. She instantly knew he could easily compete with the host club for looks, and they were all gorgeous men. Even in his work uniform he still had an air about him and his smile was a lot like Tamaki...

"... Fujioka?"

She smiled, looking down at her bag again. "Thank you. I think this makes us even."

He gave her another smile and she felt her heart flutter. "I hope to see you around then, Fujioka, take care!" He gave her a small wave before turning to help his next customer.

She said goodbye and continued with her shopping. She tried to keep from frowning as she worked on slowing her heart. He had only smiled at her but she had suddenly felt so light. She realized suddenly that she hadn't even asked his name and wondered if she really would run into him again.

She was almost done her shopping when she noticed something that shouldn't have been at the market at all. She saw the rest of her peaceful day fly off without her as she walked up to Tamaki as he was looking at some small caved wooden statues.

"So you made all these yourself?" He asked excitedly as he held onto a small carving of two birds on a branch.

The man nodded. "Yep, that's right."

Tamaki looked down at the carving and then back up at the man. "Really, all of them?"

The man laughed. "Yes, sonny. I made them all."

Tamaki opened his mouth to asked if he was sure that he really made them. They were all so well done that he must have had help or workers or something.

"Sempai, please stop bugging the poor man."

"Eep!" Tamaki jumped, throwing the small statue which the artist thankfully caught before it could be damaged. "Haruhi?! What are you doing here?" He turned to see the brown-eyes girl standing beside him. His eyes traveled down her light green dress. It was so cute~! He felt himself blush a little. She looked so adorable out shopping in that little outfit.

She looked around as a few people stopped to look at them. "I'm shopping." She lifted her bag full of various goods. She narrowed her eyes on the blond prince who paled slightly. "The real question is, what are you doing here, sempai?" She glanced around again but didn't notice any of the other club members in the crowd. Was he alone then? Was he following her?

He smiled then, coming back to his senses. "Ah... Well you see, I was driving past and then I noticed all the people and I wanted to see where everyone was going. So I asked my driver to pull over so I could go see and then I found this lovely place! It's like the commoner's market but it's all outside." He looked around with bright eyes. "And look at all the stuff they are selling. It's wonderful!" He turned to her. "Can you really believe that his gentleman really made all these lovely little carvings himself?"

"Yes, I can." She thought over his story. "Where were you driving to anyways?" She had a feeling that she already knew.

"Ah..." He gave her an innocent smile. "No where in particular."

Right... "Uh-huh." She gave him another piercing look before she started her walk along the stalls again. She didn't need to asked Tamaki, she knew he would follow along with her like a lost puppy now that he knew she was here. She was sure he must have been heading over to visit her when he noticed the crowd. "Are the others here also?" She asked as she stopped to look at some yams.

Tamaki shook his head. "No, they couldn't come today."

She turned to him slowly. "So you had been on your way to my house."

He took a step back. "Ah..." He was caught. His shoulders slumped. "Yeah."

She didn't say anything to him. She picked out two good sized yams and paid for them.

Tamaki walked next to her as she continued her shopping. He was trying to stay out of her way since he didn't want her to be angry at him. He hadn't expected to run into her here and wasn't quite sure what to do. In truth, he hadn't asked the others to come along today. He had hoped to be able to spend some time with her alone. He wanted to talk to her and ask her a few things, but he wasn't sure how to ask or even how she would react, let alone where to start.

"Sempai, you've been a little quite lately." She asked she browsed over the good at another shop.

"Have I?" She had noticed? That was his Haruhi for you. She always was able to tell when something was on their minds.

She nodded, looking up at him briefly. "Yeah. For one, you were unusually calm about you not winning the contest. I kind of expected you to have a fit."

He opened his mouth, then closed it. He had been disappointed but also relieved in some fashion that he hadn't been chosen. For some reason he couldn't be upset about Mori being chosen. He wasn't sure why but it just didn't seem important enough for him to get angry over.

Haruhi stopped, give him a searching look. Even his reaction to her question was off. Either there was something very heavy weighing on his mind right now or he was having some kind of troubles that he was trying to keep from them.

He turned away from her eyes that seemed to be trying to see right into his soul. He slowly started to walk again. Things in his life were not moving how he had hoped that they would. He was having an easier time seeing that now, which was causing him to have a harder time hiding behind his smile. The events with Éclair had brought to light the importance of the club to him and how much he really valued his friends. It also forced him to think over his feelings about Haruhi and his current situation as potential heir to the Suoh family. His feelings, once he realized them had been easy. He was in love with their little hostess. It was how to show her this, that he was lost.

However this bright to light brought with it new problems. His grandmother. He knew she didn't love him. It broke his heart every time she called him horribly degrading names or belittled his mother. It hurt knowing that no matter how hard he tried he could not get her to love him but it hurt even more when she used his mother as a bargaining chip to get him to do what she wanted. He had, however, little choice. His mother had always been in weak health, and if his grandmother were to cut her off from the support of the Suoh family, then she would be in trouble. He felt that no matter what he did, that his grandmother might never name him heir, which was quite likely. She did everything she could to punish her son's bastard child... If he ever wanted to be happy, he would have to leave the Suoh name behind, but he wasn't sure if he was capable of it. There was so little he knew about the world, that it scared him.

Éclair had promised him his mother, and for that he nearly left all his friends behind. If there was some way for him to even visit her, to know that she was alright, he would feel a lot better, but his grandmother held the reins on his allowance and made sure to never give him enough to allow him such freedom.

He looked over at Haruhi as she munched away on something from her bag. He frowned. "What are you eating?"

She looked up at him, licking her lips as she swallowed. "Strawberries. Want one?" She offered him the small red fruit.

He smiled. "Sure, thanks." He plucked the fruit from her fingers and popped it into his mouth. He might not know what to do about his situation as of yet, but he was sure he would figure it out. He always did.

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"You have to be kidding. You were really attacked by a rabid dog?" Haruhi and the twins sat together outside before school. It was very nice out that day and they had felt like soaking in some sun before heading inside for class. The twins had eagerly wanted to know all about her date. Even Hikaru seemed happy again. He laughed. "Of all things."

"Yeah I know. I was more then surprised to see it just standing there. Though if it hadn't been for Mori-sempai, I'm not sure what might have happened." She thought back to the large cut on his arm and made a note to asked him about it later at the club.

Kaoru placed his hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it, it could have been worse."

She frowned at the twin. "How so?"

Hikaru chuckled to himself. "It could have been a bear."

His brother laughed. "Now that would be something to see. Sempai versus a bear!"

Haruhi couldn't help but smile a little at the though. "Okay guys, but really, I don't think a planetarium was the best place for a date. What were these girls thinking?" She changed the topic back.

Hikaru put an arm around her shoulders. "You should have seen the other choices."

His brother nodded. "Yeah, trust us, it was the most normal out of all of them."

She frowned, looking between the two. "What were the other options?"

"Under an erupting volcano."

"On a deserted island at sea.

"Camping in the mountain tops."

She shook her head. "You have to be kidding."

"But we aren't!" They laughed at her expression. She couldn't believe it.

Kaoru calmed himself back down and smile brightly. "So if you think about it, you did very well. Could you even imagine if they had put you two out on a island together?"

Haruhi decided she really didn't want to think about it. What was so romantic about any of those choices anyways? Damn these rich girls. She sighed. She better have a chat with Renge about this, just in case she decided is would be fun to have 'Haruhi's Dream Date 2'.

The warning bell went, signally that classes would be starting soon. The twins stood up and offered her their hands. She took them and let them pull her to her feet. "Come on." - "Let's not be late for class." The brother's looped their arms around her and they headed inside.

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The twins raced ahead of her down the hall. "Hey guys! Come on, wait up!"

Hikaru looked back at her down the long corridor and yelled over his shoulder. "If we do that, it's not a race!"

She took a few deep breaths, trying to keep pace with the brothers as they all ran towards the music room for their club. "Why does it have... to be a... race?" She stopped and leaned her hands on her knees. A pair of shoes came into view.

"Awww, come on Haruhi." - "It's fun."

She painted. "Says you guys." She looked up at them as they smiled like cats down at her. Her eyes flicked between them. Something was going on...

They reached down and grabbed her arms, walking her forcefully towards their clubroom. "We don't have all day you know!" - "Yeah, we need to get you ready after all."

She looked back and forth again. "Woah, wait a second. Get ready for what?"

They grinned. "Today's Renaissance themed Host Club!"

"Huh? Since when was there going to be a theme today?" She asked as they reached the large doors of their clubroom.

"Since Kyouya text us about it over lunch. He said to make sure you were ready."

They walked in to the currently empty clubroom. The brothers steered her towards the prep-room. "This was Kyouya's idea?" She asked not liking the idea one bit. Couldn't they have had lease warned her?

Hikaru shrugged. "I'm not sure but either way, we need to get you ready!"

The dragged her into the prep-room which was currently full of renaissance outfits. She looked at the large gown setup on a female mannequin in the center of the room. "You have to be kidding." Kyouya wanted her to where that?

The brothers grinned. "Now you can see why you need our help! Now let's hurry before the others get here."

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"This is so uncomfortable." She stood with her back straight, as she looked at herself in the heavy and very elaborate dress. It was a rich brown dress that hung off her shoulders with gold and jewels embroidered into the hem. A small and very tight corset was over the dress which perked her already small breasts to their full potential. She frowned. They normally never showed any skin when it came to her outfits, but this one seemed to be the exception to the rule and it had been the style for the time.

The twins circled around her like sharks, making sure she was all jeweled up. At some point while she had been getting into her dress, they had taken the time to put on their costumes. The twins moved around in the tights and tunics like they wore them everyday. The also had matching hats, but they had decided not to put them on yet and had left them next to the door. At first she wasn't sure what they were suppose to be dressed up as but then figured out that they were musicians. She wondered what the others would be dressed as. There were so many costumes still in the room.

There was a knock at the prep-room door before it slowly opened. "Is Haruhi ready yet?" Kyouya frowned from the doorway, seeing her still in front of the mirror while the twins argued over what tiara or head piece she should wear with the dress. He sighed and walked past the bickering brothers. He picked one of the large flowing brown wigs that had more curls then she was used to and handed it to her.

She had seem all the wigs sitting around the room when they had come in but since the brothers hadn't picked one out yet she had assumed she would not be wearing one. "I hate wigs..." She mumbled as she slipped it on over her still quite short hair.

He smirked at her snide remark but didn't say anything. He ran his large fingers over some very costly jewelry till he found what he was looking for.

Haruhi adjusted the wig, running her fingers through it to smooth it out. She titled her head as she looked at herself in the mirror. She normally wore straight haired wigs, but this one did look quite nice.

Kyouya stepped up behind her and she watched through the mirror as he laid a thin gold chain around her head. A simple but very beautiful pendant rested on her forehead. "There." He gave her a cool smile in the mirror. "All done. Now get out, so the rest of us can get ready." He put his hands lightly on her bare shoulders and turned her to the door.

Having noticed Kyouya in the room, the brothers had stopped their arguing. Kaoru frowned. "Gez, we get the hint." He took Haruhi's hand while his brother grabbed their hats and left the prep-room, leaving Kyouya alone to change.

Hunny and Mori were sitting at a nearby table. Hunny jumped up when he say the girl come into the room. "Wow, Haru-chan! You look so nice in that dress." The small man run up to her, looking her over with approving eyes.

Mori set down the book he had been reading and joined the small group. He too looked Haruhi over in her off-the-shoulders gown. She did look beautiful, even with the long curly hair but still, to him, he was happy with her the way she was and wondered why Tamaki and the others felt the need to dress her up so much.

Haruhi sighed then smiled slightly at the small blond. "That's good, cause this thing weighs a tone and I feel ridiculous in it."

Hikaru fixed his round hat onto his orange hair. "Come on, Haruhi, that's no way for a lady to act." He teased.

"Lady my-"

The prep-room door opened and Kyouya walked out in a scholars outfit done out in deep purple hues. "I would suggest you hurry and get ready. The guests will be coming shortly." He brushed some unseen dust from his outfit and scoped up his notebook from the table.

Hunny looked around. "But Kyo-chan, Tama-chan isn't here yet."

Kyouya pulled his small black phone from a hidden pocket on his custom. "He told me that he will be a little late. He is busy showing a new student around the campus." Seeing that he had no new missed messages from their kingly leader, he out the phone back.

The twins looked at each other. "New student? It's it getting a little late into the school year for new transfers?"

Kyouya shrugged. "This one seems to be an exception to the rule. Anyways, I need you two to finish getting dressed." Hunny and Mori nodded as they moved into the prep-room to get ready.

Haruhi slowly walked up to Kyouya has he wrote things down in his notebook. "That outfit suits you very well. sempai."

He looked up and gave her a sly smile. "And the same to you, Haruhi."

She looked down at her outfit. "Wasn't there something less bulky I could have worn for this?"

He snapped his book closed. "Not according to your leader's wishes. You are to be the Lady of the host club and the rest of us are your court." He looked her over again and frowned. Setting down his book he stepped up to her. "At least act the part, Haruhi." He put his hand on the small of her back. "Shoulders back." With his other hand he gave her bare shoulder a small push till she stood straight. "And just fold your hands neatly in front of you." She did so. Kyouya smiled. "Good, now just remember to smile and welcome our guests." He took a step back and gestured over to the large ornament couch that had been setup in the middle of the room. "Your seat, my Lady."

She frowned at his sarcastic remark but took her place in the center of the room. The twins sat themselves on either arm of the chair, each held a lute. "Do you two even know how to play those?"

The shook their heads and strummed a few very out of tune notes. "They are just for show."

She could hear that. "But what if a client really wants to hear you play?" She looked up at Kaoru, who just shrugged.

Mori and Hunny stepped out of the prep-room then. They were dressed to match as a knight and squire pair. Mori had a light set of chainmail over his thick tunic and belted tights. While Hunny, in similar colours, had his own long tunic over his loose fitting pants with many large pouches attached to his belt. Together they looked really cute and Haruhi could help but smile as Hunny showed her his outfit. "Aren't I cute, Haru-chan? And me and Takashi match!" He smiled brightly and he looked back up at his larger cousin.

Kyouya clapped his hands. "Alright everyone, Tamaki is going to be joining us as soon as he's done showing the new student around, till then it's business as usual. Now, to your places, here come the girls." And he opened the doors to the third music room.

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Host club was also over for the evening when Tamaki threw open the doors to the music room. "And this, is the host club!" He announced, causing many of the guests to look in his direction.

The girls turned to each other and then back to look as Tamaki brought the new student into the room. "It's him!" They whispered excitedly. "Isn't he so dreamy?" – "Yeah I know." – "I think he might even be hotter then Tamaki." – "Oh, no way but even still!"

Tamaki swept into the room, turning back to his new friend. "This is where all the lovely ladies with too much time on their hands come to play with us hosts, who also have too much time on our hands." He smiled brightly.

The young man behind him smiled. "Is that so?" He smirked and looked around the room. Several of the girls swooned. He was as tall as the blond prince and just as handsome. His messy hair was light brown with highlights of blond and gold. His bright eyes were an equal shade of bright green. His smile was charming and even under the uniform the girls could tell he had a bit of muscle on him. What a hunk! They all decided.

Tamaki laughed lightly. "It is! Now, my new friend, you must meet the other hosts."

By this point the other hosts had taken notice in their new guest but in the interest of their own clients, had yet to greet the new visitor. Haruhi had her back to the door when they had entered. Her costume prevented her from turning but she clients had gone silent as they moved to get a better look at the new comer. She wondered briefly who the new student was.

One of the girls leaned closer. "Haruhi-chan, have you met the new student yet?"

She shook her head. "No, I didn't know that there were any new transfers."

The girls looked shocked. "How could you not?! Everyone has been talking about him."

Tamaki came up behind the couch. "Now ladies, I hope it has all been good talk. Wouldn't want to upset our friend here on his first day at Ouran." The girls blushed but Tamaki just gave them a wink. Leaning over the back of the coach he smiled at Haruhi. "Come now Haruhi, meet my new friend."

She nodded and excused herself from her guests. Carefully she stood, with a hand from Tamaki as he rounded the couch. Why did woman every wear such heavy and cumbersome dresses, she wondered.

Tamaki looked her over as she stood up and decided that she was the most beautiful girl in the world. He found his eyes going from her face, down to her neck and then lower. Catching his glaze he blushed and looked away. Who knew that such period style dresses would be so… revealing.

"Sempai?"

Removing the image from his head he took lead her hand and lead her around the couch and over to their new guest who was still talking with Kyouya.

"Leon, I'd like to introduce you to the shinning star of the Ouran Host Club, Ms Haruhi Fujioka."

She bowed her head. "It's a pleasure to meet you…" She looked up into the bright green eyes of the new student. She blinked. "It's you!" She pointed in surprise.

"Fujioka," He smiled. "Now, this is a pleasant surprise." He took her hand and bowed. "Haruhi is it…?" He placed a light kiss on the back of her hand. "It suits you."

Despite herself she blushed. "Le-Leon, was it?"

He slowly let go of her hand and straightened back up. He smiled then, bright and shinning. "I guess it was rude of me, not to give you my name the last time we met."

Kyouya pushed his glasses back into place. "So you two know each other then, interesting." The other hosts moved closer together, wondering what was going on.

Tamaki moved closer to his dark friend. "But I thought he was new?" He whispered, his violet eyes moving between Haruhi and the new student, Leon.

Leon smiled. "I am, to the school anyways." He cast another look at Haruhi, still looking at him with slightly wide eyes. "I've been in Japan for about three weeks now."

Hikaru and Kaoru frowned, narrowing their eyes on the newcomer. "So how did you meet Haruhi?" Hikaru crossed his arms as he glared at him.

He laughed. "Well, you see, that's kind of an interesting story."

Haruhi turned to him. "I'm not sure if interesting was the right word for it. It could have ended very badly."

He nodded with a solemn look, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at the floor. "I said I was sorry for that. Didn't the strawberries make up for that?" He looked back up at her then.

Mori and Hunny looked from the pair to the rest of their friends. Hunny wondered what they might be thinking and looked up at his cousin whose thoughts were unreadable even to him behind his masked expression.

She folded her arms under her chest. "They did and I'm not holding it against you but if it hadn't been for Kasanoda, I might not be standing here right now."

Tamaki frowned. "What happened and why wouldn't you be standing here?" He asked, looking quickly between the two.

Hikaru glared. "And what does Bosa Nova have to do with this, anyways?"

Haruhi sighed and turned back to her friends and was slightly taken back by the various looks they were giving her. She looked nervously at Leon before turning back to her friends. "I went out to the store one night to get something for dinner and since it was getting late, I decided to cut through an alley-"

"And you were jumped by thugs?!" Tamaki jumped in.

She glared at him. "No." He settled back down.

Leon waved his hand. "It was more like a runaway shipping container."

The twins looked at each other. "A runaway." – "Shipping container?"

Haruhi and Leon nodded. He continued. "I was unloading the truck at work and the cart go away from me and rolled away. Unfortunately, Haruhi happened to be walking by and if he hadn't been for… Kasanoda?" He looked to Haruhi to make sure he had the name right. She nodded and he continued. "If he hadn't been there to knock her out of the way…" He looked at the brown-eyes girl with a small frown. She might have been seriously hurt or worse had it not been for her friend. He was very thankful for that.

Tamaki and Hikaru went to open their mouths but were drowned out by the cheers of the girls within the club. They had been listening intently from the start. There was the sound of moving gears before Renge suddenly appeared. "Wow! Did you hear that girls? It's like something from a romance novel!" She clasped her hands over her chest. "A new prince as come to steal her heart! Will Haruhi be able to resist his advances? Only time will tell! And what will the other hosts do now? Ha-hahaha" She continued to laugh as she disappeared again just as quickly as she had arrived.

Leno laughed as he looked about. "Who was that?" He turned back at the hosts.

Kaoru frowned. "That's Renge, she's the club's Lady Manager." He explained.

"Oh?" He looked back to where the girl had just been. "She seems to be quite a character."

"They are all quite the characters." Haruhi mumbled with a sigh and she walked away from the small group.

Leon blinked and looked after her. He wondered if he had said something wrong.

Kyouya cleared his throat. "Where are you running off to, Haruhi?"

She looked over her shoulder. "I'm tired, so I'm going to call it an evening." She paused, thinking that she wanted out if her dress and back into her normal close as soon as possible and that she was going to need some help… She turned back slowly. "Hunny-sempai, do you think you could give me a hand?"

All the men looked with shock at the smaller blond. Hunny smiled brightly and bounced after her. "Okay, Haru-chan~!"

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In the prep-room, Hunny helped Haruhi unzip the back of her dress and unlace the corset before she moved behind one of the changing room curtains to undress. Hunny sat down in the only chair and kicked his feet back and forth. "Are you feeling alright, Haru-chan?"

Behind the curtain she shrugged off the dress, letting it fall heavy to the floor in a heap. She didn't care if it cost a small fortune. She just wanted it off. Again she cursed the person who invented such a garment. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Hunny frowned. "Are you sure?" He asked not, now totally convince.

She poked her head out from the curtain and looked at the smaller man. "Maybe?" She sighed and returned to changing.

Hunny decided to try from a different angle. "I heard all about the date from Takashi. When are you two going to go out again?"

She pulled her pants back on and picked her top off from the hanger nearby. "I'm not sure, we haven't talk about it yet." She answered from behind the curtain. "I figured another date was the least I could do, seeing as how this one ended so horribly."

Hunny giggle. "Yeah, getting attacked by a rabid dog can do that to a date."

Haruhi came out with the large gown over her arms, happily back in her own uniform. "But it wasn't that bad…" Hunny looked her with questioning eyes. "It was nice, getting to talk with sempai like that."

The small blond nodded. "Yeah, I guess you guys don't get to spend much time together."

Haruhi put the dress back onto its mannequin. "Yeah, there is so much I still don't know about you guys."

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Leon had left the clubroom along with the other guests. Kyouya, Tamaki, Mori and the twins sat around one of the larger round tables.

"So who, exactly, is that guy?" Hikaru asked the Shadow King as he worked on his laptop.

Kyouya pulled up the newcomers file. "Leonardo Hoffman, age 18. Heir to the Hoffman Shipping Corporation located primarily out of the Netherlands, it is currently run by his father. They are strictly merchants and deal in anything that will bring in a profit." He adjusted his glasses. "It seems that Leon has been busy traveling the world for the last few years. He recently moved here from Australia."

Tamaki leaned his elbows on the table. "Why did he decide to move here? Does his father have dealings here?"

Kyouya shrugged. "They own businesses all over the globe from what I can tell but as to his reason, I have no idea."

The twins frowned. Not sure if they liked this new guy. He already seemed too familiar with Haruhi for their liking. They were going to have to keep an eye on him.

"I do know one thing, however." They looked back of their cool Vice-president. "He has an usually arrangement with his father."

Tamaki frowned. "And what would that be?"

"It seems, that he has to work for his living while away from home."

The brothers looked at Kyouya with mild confusion. "What do you mean work?" – "You're not allowed to work while in school here."

Kyouya nodded. "It seems that the Chairman has made a few exceptions for him." He closed the lid on his laptop. "He has to keep in the top class while working evenings and weekends to pay for his rent and food."

Tamaki frowned. "But why?'

"My understanding is that it is to learn how things work from the bottom, to better run the top."

The blond prince frowned. "I don't get it."

Kaoru sighed. "Forget about it. I'm not sure who this new guy is yet, but I'm not sure if I like him."

Tamaki turned to the twin. "He was nice enough…"

Hikaru stood up. "Aren't you worried at all, boss?"

"Ah… about what?"

The angry twin hand a hand over his face. " About him and Haruhi? Aren't you worried that they might be a little to familiar with each other already and he only just moved her? What if she falls in love with him or something?!"

Tamaki looked down at the table with though but it was Kyouya who nodded. "There is always the chance." The others looked at him sharply. "So we might want to keep an eye on him."

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Oh~ So what do you think of these turn of events? Leon seems quite interesting... I wonder if the guys should be worried.

**Please Review~**


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